August 22-Up Whitney then down, down...down to Whitney Portal

Miles Hiked: 15.1  Total: 232.43
Elevation Gain: 4934

"Doubly happy, however, is the man whom lofty mountain tops are within reach, for the lights that shine there illumine all that lies below”
~John Muir

STEEP TRAILS - pub 1918

[John]
We donned our headlamps, broke camp around 4 AM and started hiking by 4:30 AM.  We could faintly see occasional headlamps along the trail in the distance, some clearly ascending Whitney beyond the junction. It was nice and cool, which made the ascent to the junction easier.

Sunrise - Guitar Lake

We left our packs at the junction, removing the smaller upper bag on my pack, which we took along as a day pack with a liter of water, then climbed the trail from the junction to the summit, arriving there around 9:30 AM. I was clearly tired from the lack of sleep and relative lack of oxygen. I remember trying to figure out which letter came after Z, doing the alphabet backwards, as we slowly crept toward the top – wasn’t sure if it was X, Y, A, B or some other letter!

The exhilaration of being on top brought me out of my stupor. There were only 10 or 15 of us up there then, the weather was great – bright sun and no wind – and we could see for miles all directions. We really felt we were on top of the world – at least the continental US!

Not long after we got there, Toshio and Masao arrived. We took the opportunity to share some photos with them and offered to drive them down to Lone Pine that afternoon if they wanted to meet us at Whitney Portal. After lingering at the top for a half-hour or so, we headed back down to pick up our packs, running into both Karen and “kids,” Sean, and Sondra, who were all among the stream of hikers headed up.

The trail to/from Mt. Whitney

After picking up our packs at the junction, we made the final climb (150 feet or so) to the trail crest, and then began the L-O-N-G eight mile nearly 6,000 foot descent to Whitney Portal, arriving there, along with Toshio and Masao around 3:30 PM, followed soon thereafter by Sondra, who had delightedly decided to leave her slow group the day before.

That long descent was hell and it seemed like we’d never reach the destination. It was hot, our legs hurt, we were filthy, hungry and thirsty, and my bear canister was displaced, causing my pack to twist my spine. But we finally arrived, used the facilities, grabbed some cold juices at the store, found the car and started the drive down to Lone Pine.

Looking SW from Mt. Whitney summit

Lone Pine was hot in the afternoon sun – 103 degrees or some such – but we were able to get a room at the Dow Villa and took long showers before going to a Mexican food dinner with Toshio and Masao. Need I say we slept really well in bed that night?

And, ah, the breakfast the next morning – fresh orange juice, bacon, eggs and hashbrowns – yumm!

[Christi]
We broke camp about 4:30 AM and put our headlamps on so we could start our long ascent up the switchbacks to Whitney Junction where we'd finally leave our packs for the 1.9 miles climb to the top of Mt. Whitney. We arrived at the junction at 8:30 AM, 4 hours after breaking camp.  This was going to be a very long day.

At the junction, we put on our warm coats, hats, and gloves because it was freezing and the wind was very cold. We left our packs there and began our final ascent. At 9:30 AM we made it to the summit. An astounding view of...well...EVERYTHING was in full view. There was no wind and the day was clear and sunny. There were several people there when we arrived. One man I talked to said he had hiked all night from Whitney Portal to the summit that morning. What people won't do for excitement! We spent about 45 minutes at the summit and determined we needed to start our 8.5 mile descent to Whitney Portal if we were going to get out before dark.

This part of the trip would prove to be the most difficult. You don't realize how difficult going downhill can be until you do it ALL DAY with a pack on. By the time we made it to Whitney Portal at 3:30pm, John's back and feet were a wreck. I was truly worried about him. We'd not been eating well and he hadn't slept a wink the night before so I was concerned he was going to stumble or pass out.
Luckily, he made it to the end, mostly in tact. We were relieved to be done with this day but excited about what we'd accomplished, not only this day, but the entire trip. Surely this will take time to process and fully appreciate.

Mt. Whitney from Lone Pine