August 21-Staging for Mt. Whitney

Miles Hiked: 12.07  Total: 217.33
Elevation Gain: 2842 ft


“The mountains are calling and I must go...” ~John Muir

LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN MUIR

[John]
As always, we awoke to a beautiful morning, but it was chilly. When I went to the creek to wash my face and hands, there were icicles hanging from the nearby branches.

Knowing we were approaching the end and would soon be ascending Mt. Whitney, we were full of energy and decided we’d do the Whitney summit late that afternoon, provided the weather held AND we reached the Whitney Junction (about 900 feet below the summit) by 4 PM. At that time, this seemed very doable.

Camp at Guitar Lake - Mt. Whitney

Much to our surprise, we spotted Karen and “kids” in the distance by the lake as we went over the Bighorn Plateau, and we eventually connected somewhere later along the trail before the High Sierra Trail junction. We were glad to see they were okay as we had last seen them two days prior as we passed them descending Glen Pass. They’d been doing their usual late starts in the mornings (a source of much frustration to Karen and Heather), followed by hiking late into the evening before setting up camp for the night.

We also ran into Gimley and Jenny, who we hadn’t seen for nearly 10 days. They were headed down from Guitar Lake, having ascended Whitney the day before, on their way to complete their 60 mile High Sierra Trail add-on to the end of their journey. It was good to see them and share trail tales.

The heat of the day and continual climbing caused us to realize by mid-afternoon that we would not reach the Whitney Junction by 4 PM. So we reverted to our original plan to camp at Guitar Lake and ascend Whitney early the next morning. We reached Guitar Lake around 4:30 PM, found a campsite up by the “neck” and set up camp for the evening. It was crystal clear and we watched a glider circle the top of Whitney – must have been some view from up there.

Timberline Lake below Guitar Lake - Mt. Whitney in distance

I didn’t get any sleep that night because of my “altitude apnea,” which only affected me lying down – I would begin to drift asleep, but never get there as I would feel short of breath, become fully awake and repeat the cycle. Sitting up or walking was fine, being horizontal was the problem. Much to my surprise, there were some clouds that moved in around Whitney that night – not thunderclouds, just high ones.

[Christi]
Our camp was setup a little early so we didn't have to rush into the tent like most nights.

Tired...as usual...and not hungry for any of the food we had with us, I ate a little bit of cheese and called it dinner.  I made John his "last meal" of cous cous which he ate reluctantly. We both "bathed" in the lake nearby and thought about our final task, Mt. Whitney.  We were both quiet and pensive.  Not sure what to make of what we'd accomplished thusfar.  Too tired to think too much about it. The sun was waning, so we set out to try to get some sleep.  We knew we'd be getting up in the dark to start the trip up to Mt. Whitney so we figured an early night would be just the ticket.  I, of course, had no trouble falling asleep, and by John's account, I rattled the tent walls with my snoring!

He, on the other hand, had a terrible time trying to sleep (no, not just from my snoring!) because he seems to be unable to breath while lying down at high altitude.  Needless to say, he got no sleep this night. He made some hot chocolate about 2 AM, thinking it would help him relax.  Nope.  He tried sitting up and sleeping.  Nadda.  So by 3:30 AM or so, we decided it was time to pack up and get on up the trail.