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| Hiking | 22.40 Miles |
6,965 AEG |
| | Hiking | 22.40 Miles | 14 Hrs 2 Mns | | 1.77 mph |
| 6,965 ft AEG | 1 Hour 23 Mns Break | 23 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Original plan was to camp above 8000ft outside of Las Vegas on Sunday night, continue onto the White Mountains in California to hike/acclimate for a couple days, then hike Whitney on Thursday. Pulled into the campsite Sunday night to find coolant boiling out of my reservoir. Drove back to Las Vegas the next morning to get my radiator replaced. Spent the next three days holed up in a hotel room watching TV, save for the Punk Rock Museum. Lucked out at 2am on Wednesday and found one Whitney permit available for Friday - grabbed it immediately and plan-B fell into place.
I pulled up to Whitney Portal Thursday afternoon and set up camp at the walk-in campground. While getting my daypack ready, I noticed my pumpkin hiking boots were nowhere to be found (they're hopefully sitting in the dealer's loaner car in Vegas as of writing this  ) I called it, packed up camp, and was ready to drive home empty-handed. A hiker at the trailhead mentioned a store in Lone Pine which was open late, so in a last ditch effort, I went to find some shoes in my size. Shout out to Elevation Sierra Adventure - literally would not have been possible without them. The universe apparently didn't want me to do this hike but I couldn't let it go after coming so far.
THE HIKE
Hit the trail at 2:30am, a bit later than planned. It was much warmer out than expected for the first couple miles. Lots of parties making their way up via headlamp at this hour. I kept a good pace up to Outpost Camp. Sunrise hit right around Consultation Lake and into Trail Camp, which is where I started to run into a lot more people. The switchbacks weren't too bad at all, especially with Whitney Crest towering above the whole time. Absolutely beautiful. Higher up on the switchbacks, I could look down and see tons of people zigzagging their way up.
Hit Trail Crest about a quarter to 8am and was treated to another beautiful sight - the High Sierra in morning light. Pretty breathtaking. I could have turned around there and been happy, but it wasn't over yet. The first half from the crest to Whitney was enjoyable, spent most of the time looking out at all of the other gorgeous sub ranges. The second half was a doozy. Any chance for a 12 hour day started to fall by the wayside, and I was okay with that. The summit hut was visible but it still seemed so far away.
At 9:20am, I reached the hut, which still has some snow inside. A little further out was the highest point in the contiguous US. Lots of good vibes up top with people congratulating each other. The view down into Owens Valley is substantial - cool to be so high sober, but either way. Spent about 40 minutes resting, eating, and enjoying the amazing views, especially after everything it took to get there. Spoke briefly with some Las Vegas residents about how Chinatown is 1000x better than The Strip before starting the arduous descent.
Pretty uneventful on the way down. I was down to a liter of water at the summit and had to filter from the nearest source near the bottom of the switchbacks. It was here that I felt a moment of nausea but thankfully it went away. The further I walked, the more I could feel my head starting to hurt - I suspect the culprit is lack of a good meal and not the elevation. The last 6 miles were more of a mental challenge, physically I felt decent. One last stop at Lone Pine Lake, then it was onto the last couple miles. Didn't really see anybody else descending for those last three miles. Back to the trailhead just before 4:30pm. Made it to Pomona around 10pm and drove back to Phoenix first thing in the morning.
So much effort spent to bag a peak, but it's not an adventure until something goes wrong, right? Happy to finally cross this one off the list. Misadventures make better stories anyways. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
Light to moderate - flowers at lower elevations are drying up/dispersed, blooms looked healthier above treeline. |
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