I just thought I would share this with everyone.
While up at the Portal during memorial Weekend, I had the opportunity to meet on the trail Brian who, I believe is the supervising ranger out of Lone Pine. One thing that he mentioned in our conversation was that trail maintenance is planned for the Whitney trail during the coming months. What makes this comment important was the fact that mules will be on the trail starting sometime around June 22nd. The mules will be used in the transportation of equipment for trail work.
As most of you know, mules can be an issue on the trail.
Certain steps are needed to safely deal with them when encountered. Brian was going to talk with the wranglers and develop safety trail protocols for hikers and share this information either at the trailhead, or with Doug to be posted on this website. But, in the end, please be aware.
By the way, while hiking Memorial Weekend, there were 2 maintenance projects going on. The first was a project about a mile and half in on the main trail, and the second maintenance project was centered on the log crossing. As most of you know, during last year's monsoonal downpour, the logs became wayward. They were, however, subsequently moved back into position. This current project is to firmly fix the logs in place.
Paul
