Mount Whitney is not only California's highest peak but also the highest in the lower 48 states. It stands at 14, 496 ft and is located in the Inyo National Forest, 15 miles west of Lone Pine, CA. It is the most traveled hike in the Inyo National Forest. Because it is so well traveled, the Forest Service limits the number of people allowed on the trail and requires a permit. The permit can be hard to obtain, so we applied for a permit in February and were lucky we got one. Before hiking Mt Whitney, we decided to hike Boundary Peak in Nevada. We successfully completed that hike and headed over to the Mt. Whitney campground.
There we camped and rested for a day before hiking Mt Whitney. While we were resting we attended church at the Lone Pine Branch. There were about 25 people there and 15 were visitors. After church we were heading back to camp and saw to the side of the road some very interesting piles of spheroidal weathered rocks. We decided to spend some time climbing on them. Corbin climbed to the top of the tallest one without any shoes. There were rocks that had holes in them, and we stuck ours head through. One rock had a lizard on it, and I don't think we had ever seen Nolan jump back so far. It was funny! We also drove up to Whitney Portal and walked around the pond and saw the beautiful water falls.
There was also a gift shop with all kinds of stuff talking about Mt. Whitney. They had a bulletin board with pictures of bears attacking cars and campers. It was kind of scary thinking that we were going to be camping without any protection. There was also a book about lady that climbed the mountain when she was 92 years old. It was very interesting.
We spent the night at the campground, and the next morning we headed to the trailhead. The elevation at the trailhead is 8,360 ft. At the trailhead they have a scale so you can weigh your packs. Nolan and Brett’s packs were close to 50 lbs because they were helping Shane carry his stuff, because he messed up his knee on our first hike. But, I think the real reason was because they wanted to show each other up and to be macho.
We started up the very steep trail. We saw lots of lizards running out in front of us for probably the first mile. The trail got a little steeper, and we were into the trees. Once we hit the trees, the trail leveled out a bit, and we came to a beautiful lake called Lone Pine Lake. The trail was surrounded with mountainous cliffs. The mountains were so big and close they looked like a gigantic scenic painting. Continuing up the trail we passed Outpost Camp and came upon Mirror Lake. Here we stopped and ate our lunch. While we were eating, we could see a deer up the hill a little ways. We started walking up to the deer thinking it would be spooked and run away, but he didn’t seem alarmed at all. Apparently with how many people hike this trail, many of the animals have become somewhat accustomed to human activity. It was awesome to be that close to a wild deer.
After hiking a couple more miles, we came out of the tree line. The trail got steeper and steeper. There were parts of the trail that were like walking up stairs. The forest service keeps the trails very nicely groomed. After traveling six miles, we arrived at Trail Camp at 12,000 ft. Once we got there, we set up our tents and some of us went to sleep around 2:30 pm. We awoke for dinner and talked for a while and of course played a little Frisbee at 12,000 feet. Then, knowing our morning would come super early, we went back to sleep. It was a very cold night, and the wind was blowing really hard. We woke up at 2:30 am and decided we should just go ahead and start hiking to the top. We hiked just a short distance before we came to the 99 switch backs. Back and forth we went.
After two miles we arrived at the Trail Crest where our protection from the wind disappeared. and we were suddenly exposed to some very cold morning air. Trail Crest is 13,777, feet which is less than a thousand feet below the summit with less than 3 miles to go. This part of the trail was cool because the trail wound in and out of parts of the mountain.
We finally made it to the top right at sunrise. It was spectacular up there, minus the cold. We were the second group to summit that morning. We took our summit pictures and then went into the shelter that was built on top for star observation and to block the wind. We wrote our dedications in the summit book and took another look and headed back down to get warm. It felt good that we had accomplished such a beautiful peak in reasonably good time, even with a twisted knee and a pregnant woman along.
The way down was a lot of fun. When we got to the switch backs, we ran down most of the way. It also felt good because we were passing people that were just heading up, and to know that we were heading done was nice. Back at Trail Camp we gathered up our gear and headed down with our packs again on our backs. Shane’s knee was getting worse, so we took it a little slower, which was okay because we were able to look around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Brett and Nolan decided they would run down the rest of the way in order to get the bear canister returned on time and to get a head start on our return trip preparations. The rest of us continued slowly down the trail. We saw another friendly dear and a beautiful waterfall that we had not seen on the way up. We ran the last mile down to the trailhead.
There are many reasons why we hike mountains, but one of my favorite reasons might best be expressed in the words of well known explorer, Edmund Hillary, who said, "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” Hiking mountains really does teach us more about ourselves and what we are capable of doing. Check out the pictures in the following slide show, as they paint a more vivid picture of this unforgettable climbing adventure.
There we camped and rested for a day before hiking Mt Whitney. While we were resting we attended church at the Lone Pine Branch. There were about 25 people there and 15 were visitors. After church we were heading back to camp and saw to the side of the road some very interesting piles of spheroidal weathered rocks. We decided to spend some time climbing on them. Corbin climbed to the top of the tallest one without any shoes. There were rocks that had holes in them, and we stuck ours head through. One rock had a lizard on it, and I don't think we had ever seen Nolan jump back so far. It was funny! We also drove up to Whitney Portal and walked around the pond and saw the beautiful water falls.
There was also a gift shop with all kinds of stuff talking about Mt. Whitney. They had a bulletin board with pictures of bears attacking cars and campers. It was kind of scary thinking that we were going to be camping without any protection. There was also a book about lady that climbed the mountain when she was 92 years old. It was very interesting.
We spent the night at the campground, and the next morning we headed to the trailhead. The elevation at the trailhead is 8,360 ft. At the trailhead they have a scale so you can weigh your packs. Nolan and Brett’s packs were close to 50 lbs because they were helping Shane carry his stuff, because he messed up his knee on our first hike. But, I think the real reason was because they wanted to show each other up and to be macho.
We started up the very steep trail. We saw lots of lizards running out in front of us for probably the first mile. The trail got a little steeper, and we were into the trees. Once we hit the trees, the trail leveled out a bit, and we came to a beautiful lake called Lone Pine Lake. The trail was surrounded with mountainous cliffs. The mountains were so big and close they looked like a gigantic scenic painting. Continuing up the trail we passed Outpost Camp and came upon Mirror Lake. Here we stopped and ate our lunch. While we were eating, we could see a deer up the hill a little ways. We started walking up to the deer thinking it would be spooked and run away, but he didn’t seem alarmed at all. Apparently with how many people hike this trail, many of the animals have become somewhat accustomed to human activity. It was awesome to be that close to a wild deer.
After hiking a couple more miles, we came out of the tree line. The trail got steeper and steeper. There were parts of the trail that were like walking up stairs. The forest service keeps the trails very nicely groomed. After traveling six miles, we arrived at Trail Camp at 12,000 ft. Once we got there, we set up our tents and some of us went to sleep around 2:30 pm. We awoke for dinner and talked for a while and of course played a little Frisbee at 12,000 feet. Then, knowing our morning would come super early, we went back to sleep. It was a very cold night, and the wind was blowing really hard. We woke up at 2:30 am and decided we should just go ahead and start hiking to the top. We hiked just a short distance before we came to the 99 switch backs. Back and forth we went.
After two miles we arrived at the Trail Crest where our protection from the wind disappeared. and we were suddenly exposed to some very cold morning air. Trail Crest is 13,777, feet which is less than a thousand feet below the summit with less than 3 miles to go. This part of the trail was cool because the trail wound in and out of parts of the mountain.
We finally made it to the top right at sunrise. It was spectacular up there, minus the cold. We were the second group to summit that morning. We took our summit pictures and then went into the shelter that was built on top for star observation and to block the wind. We wrote our dedications in the summit book and took another look and headed back down to get warm. It felt good that we had accomplished such a beautiful peak in reasonably good time, even with a twisted knee and a pregnant woman along.
The way down was a lot of fun. When we got to the switch backs, we ran down most of the way. It also felt good because we were passing people that were just heading up, and to know that we were heading done was nice. Back at Trail Camp we gathered up our gear and headed down with our packs again on our backs. Shane’s knee was getting worse, so we took it a little slower, which was okay because we were able to look around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Brett and Nolan decided they would run down the rest of the way in order to get the bear canister returned on time and to get a head start on our return trip preparations. The rest of us continued slowly down the trail. We saw another friendly dear and a beautiful waterfall that we had not seen on the way up. We ran the last mile down to the trailhead.
There are many reasons why we hike mountains, but one of my favorite reasons might best be expressed in the words of well known explorer, Edmund Hillary, who said, "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” Hiking mountains really does teach us more about ourselves and what we are capable of doing. Check out the pictures in the following slide show, as they paint a more vivid picture of this unforgettable climbing adventure.
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