Day 59

Trail miles: 4.2

Total: 771.2

Mt. Whitney trail: 16 miles

I’m sitting on the ground at 10:45pm the night before this, filtering water after I spilled half a liter. I’m running on 30 min of sleep and the group I am summiting with is heading out in 15 min. I shove all the stuff I don’t need under Brads vestibule (I had to take my tent down because I need my trekking poles for the hike, which are what hold up my tent) and head to the meeting spot. I have with me my sleeping bag, 3.5 liters of water, charging equipment, and lots of warm clothes. I switched my camera’s polarizing filter for the UV one and tightened my shoes a little tighter while I waited. Once they got there, we were off so fast. I stayed behind Big Owl the whole time. It was pitch black with no moon so I couldn’t tell where we were going or anything beside us. We hiked up and up; it was so cold I had every piece of clothing in my bag on my body. We didn’t stop except to change clothes or chug electrolytes, but I felt alright with the climb. Towards the top, we made our way through a long rock garden and we took it pretty slow, but we were still making very good time. No one passed us at all. I looked down the mountain and you could see lights from other hikers making their way to the switchbacks. I started getting dizzy from the altitude and just wanted to get to the top so I could sit in my sleeping bag. It was bad enough with all the false summits in the dark! We made it to the top around 4:00am, so very early for sunrise. The shelter was full of snow so it didn’t provide much help from the wind. I got in my sleeping bag and scrunched down in between two rocks for wind protection where I was joined my Big Owl and Lifeguard of either side. Jeffery Pine somehow got his hammock set up at the top. We sat like that for about 30 min before I heard my name, and the whole gang had made it up the hill! We still had to wait until after 5:30am for the sun to rise over some clouds, but man was it worth it. It was by far the best sight on the trip and I’m not sure if anything else will compete. It felt great to complete my first 14er with such a great group of people. I was just so happy up there. Probably the happiest I’ve been on trail. It was sad to leave, especially since the sun warmed me up enough to walk around and take pictures of every single angle off the mountain. But the downhill hike was almost as rewarding as the top view. We got to hike down in the daylight and see what we had walked through to get to the top before the sunrise. It was beautiful in every direction! I took so many pictures and videos I probably doubled my memory card capacities. And I got to walk downhill, which was a breeze. I stopped to eat a cliff bar because I realized I had only eaten a Snickers. We really took our time down the hill, taking it all in. We stopped by a lake toward the bottom and had good laughs about Whitney! (Krista thinks it’s an ugly mountain, I said well you stand on it and get a better view of all the other better looking ones around it) It was funny to see where we started, where we climbed up the mountain, and where we summited all from the spot at the lake. It was just this wide open area. I was so hungry by the time we got back. My nap was longer than the amount of sleep I got last night. Lunch was banana nut oatmeal and some much needed Mio with caffeine to wake me out of my grogginess. We hiked about 5 miles to the campsite near a creek. The good thing is we have lots of places to fill up on water and it’s always cold and refreshing, the bad part is we usually have to cross those water sources. I put my camera equipment and other electronics in a dry bag before I cross each time. I haven’t called in yet and they aren’t that deep, but it’s well worth the effort to do each time. Dinner was a treat I was saving for having summited Mt. Whitney and carrying on on the PCT later in the day. I had my favorite: Mountain House chicken and dumplings. We leave at the same time we usually wake up in the mornings to get over Forester Pass. Hikers say the most dangerous part of the pass has melted, but once we make it over to the other side, we will most likely be post holing on the way down.