Starting at 9:30 at 8,300 ft.
On the first day of our vacation (while we were still fresh!), we decided to see how far we could hike up the Mt. Whitney trail.
The trail initially switchbacks up through forest.
Neither of us had been here before, so we didn’t know what to expect. We went to the ranger station in Lone Pine, got a couple of unclaimed day hike passes, and spent the night at a campground lower down, hopefully away from bear trouble.
Aspens grow along the streams by the trail.
Our goal was to see how high we could get without hurting ourselves for the rest of our trip.
Beginning to break out of the trees.
We packed light and quickly began passing heavily laden hikers carrying 2-3 days of provisions.
The meadow below Outpost Camp at 10,300’.
Mt. Whitney is unusual in that it doesn’t stand out from the surrounding peaks. We kept asking ourselves, “Is that Whitney? There? I can’t tell.”
Looking down at Mirror Lake and Thor Peak.
Once you get past the trees, there’s nothing but granite. The surrounding cliffs and peaks are amazing.
Looking back to Owens Valley.
Nancy with Thor Peak in the background.
I kept wondering how a rock climber would see this, which lines looked appealing and which weren’t worth pursuing. I felt like a non-skier looking at snow-filled couloirs, with no idea of the possibility of skiing them.
The happy hikers with Wotan’s Throne in the background.
The main Whitney trail is a straightforward hike until you reach the Pacific Crest at 13,700; at that point it becomes a long, indirect trudge to the summit. However, we weren’t planning on making the ridge.
Trudging up toward Consultation Lake, at about 11,500’.
We made good time on the trail. I was shocked by how fast Nancy was motoring up the hill. She recently lost about thirty pounds, and as a result was flying up the trail. She said that she felt like she was going the same speed she always goes, but I could see a big difference.
Recent snowfall dotted the upper ridges.
The day was intermittently cold, with some wind and clouds cutting up the sunshine. I ended up wearing everything I packed.
Our turn-around point, Trail Camp at 12,000’.
We stopped at the traditional campsite for overnighters, Trail Camp. It’s a six mile hike with almost 4,000’ of vertical gain to this point.
We snacked for an hour and watched hikers switchback down from the summit.
A view of Owens Valley from the Mt. Whitney Portal road.
We motored down the trail to get back to the truck before dark. Nancy was relieved that the bears hadn’t broken in; I was just relieved that I could rest my knees after all that downhill.
Now that we know what the trail is like, we hope to come back and summit the thing.
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