Mt.
Whitney July 2003
We
started off on Friday at about 4:45pm from San Jose. Earlier, we debated for a
while on which route would be faster, through Yosemite or down I-5 then back
up. It was decided to go for the longer distance but possibly shorter drive
time. After being held up on HWY 152 for about an hour, we got to the campsite
at Whitney portal at 12:45. We drove around randomly trying to find an empty
campsite. It started to sprinkle around 1am and luckily it was just brief
droplets most of the night. I ended up sleeping in the back of the rental
Taurus, while Patrick slept outside on a mat with an emergency blanket wrapped
around his sleeping bag to keep dry. I actually felt the thinness of the air
even though it was only about 8000ft. I had to force myself to take deep
breaths and the back of the Taurus was not the most comfortable place to sleep.
We
awoke Saturday around 8am and drove down to the Ranger Station in Lone Pine,
where we successfully obtained drop in permits(which were free). We also picked
up some food and grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonald's. I had a mild headache
and was slightly concerned, but I took some ginkgo biloba and a couple of
Advil.
We
finally got back up to the trailhead around 10:30am where we rented a Bear
Canister at the Whitney Portal Store. Incidentally they sell them for the
lowest price in the nation (~$49).
At 11am
we set off for Trail Camp. Trailhead(8300') to Trail Camp(12,040') took 4 hours
and 45mins in fairly mild weather. However, we could see the top of the
mountain was enshrouded in fog and clouds that looked rather ominous. When we
got to Trail Camp there was a ranger checking permits. I was glad we were able
to get the drop in permits, though our back up plan was to summit Mt. White if
we couldn't get permits.
From
4pm-8pm we setup the tent, ate, rested, hydrated, and took shelter from
thunderstorms. There was a brief period of light showers and mild thunder. (We
took refuge in the tent). At Trail Camp there were 10-15 tents set up in random
locations. At this point, I still had a mild headache but walking around and
drinking water helped a lot.
We got
to sleep around 9:30pm. It was sweet slumber for me but Patrick had to endure
my snoring and inadvertent elbows to the ribs. That was until 4:30am when he
got his revenge by giving me some of his own elbows to wake me up.
After
struggling to get in my contacts we left Trail Camp at 5:30am. At night at
altitude really helped and my head was feeling fine. We each went our own pace.
I preferred to stop to take pictures and rest often while Patrick liked a
steady non-stop pace. The trail heads downward after Trail Crest but then heads
back up to the summit on a narrow rocky trail. To the left was a valley and a
bunch of small lakes while to the right was the ridge. Every so often there
were chutes that seemed to drop into a bottomless chasm. When I summitted at
8:45am, the hut was barely visible as it was so foggy at the top. The plaque at
the summit reads 14,496.811'. It was pretty cold, foggy and visibility was
really poor. While taking a brief rest in the hut, we met a runner who took 4
hours and 20 minutes to summit from the Trailhead.
9am-11am
Summit to Trail Camp. The way down was
much faster, only about 2 hours. After packing up, I saw Patrick sitting with
his head between his legs. When he looked up his face was all red, apparently
his head exploded with a pretty severe headache. After giving him some Advil, we
decided to go down quickly.
12pm-3pm
Trail Camp to Trail Head. The way down from Trail Camp seemed long and as I
dislike hiking downhill I was getting a bit aggravated. It was also getting
quite warm. I did manage to stop for a few minutes at the lake to enjoy the
scenery. After hiking for 10 hours I was glad to be back at the trailhead. I
just wanted to sit back and relax for a few minutes. Patrick decided to stash
his stuff in the car and grabbed my pack as well. Had I known he was going to
use this to concoct a story about how he had to carry my pack all the way back
to the car, I never would have let him touch my pack. ;) Patrick's headache
went away and he took a brief shower at the portal store to get cleaned up.
4pm-10:45pm
- Lone Pine to San Jose with a stop at In n Out was pretty uneventful.
It was
a long hike but not any worse than Half-Dome since we spread it out...besides
we really did need to take shelter during a brief thunderstorm.