Good Morning
So we left the portal at 2:00 AM on the 9th . As usual i awake to Tracy still in sleeping bag firing up the camp stove for an early morning packet of Oatmeal. Great have you ever really enjoyed food when you are still dreaming of lying on the beach in Hawaii? NOT me , anyhow she was spunky and ready, me something was off... not sure why but certainly not myself. We eat our packets and load packs on back , close up camper and head out. A perfect morning, our destination Whitney to Tyndall coming out over Shepherds pass 45 miles and it was going to be tough. Off we go. As we headed up we encounter some folks who had left at midnight , wow i say hope they will be okay. We are moving at our normal pace and we see another guy , who had just had a bear encounter and was near heart failure , so we talked him through it and walked slowly for a bit to encourage him to sleep at outpost camp since he had overnight gear and we were just approaching the camp. We start up the switchbacks out of Outpost I look at my watch, shoot 30 min off the time. What is wrong ? We make it to Mirror lake and it hits me. I have to lay down because my head is killing me, Tracy said whats wrong? I just need five minutes . At this point all I could think of was Back Guy and every other person i have heard about and making good verses bad decisions, so I look back and Tracy says we are going back to the truck, hoping to find that dream of Hawaii again, and fighting my pride. Really turn around? Never once have i said this.
Anyhow so off we go to the truck somewhat confused about my decision , but knowing if i get over the top of Whitney and down the backside i am in deep , and not feeling well could result in a real bad day! So now we encounter peeps as we call them one after another all asking how the Summit was I found myself speechless , as for the first time I didn't have the happy GREAT . Instead I was dead tired and head pounding, as we approached the portal at 6:15 am i crawled in my bag and out i went sleeping like a baby as did Tracy. 3 hours go by and we awake to the hustle and bustle of the day hikers and people getting ready. We decided to stay there for the day and rest and try again in there morning.
We head to the store for some of the best Eggs Bacon and Hash browns ever , as we walk through the door there is Richard P looking as exhausted as we were from his 40 mile day the day prior . We all chat hang out eat and sleep some more . Back to the store at 1:00 Pm this time for a burger and some more great company Richard, Doug, Dougy, Aimy and Miles all telling great stories of there trips up the mountain in the last weeks, Miles and Aimy telling there story of hanging off Keeler Needle for ten days straight Richard just back from a huge day and us finishing a week of Whitney, Williamson, Agassiz and San Mac lake, now headed out for a forty five mile double 14,000' peak day. I must say the company from everyone there was so perfect for a real rest day... some of the most frequent visitors of Mount Whitney. in fact Richard P is the master of the week to week Whitney summits , he being our first inspiration to do Whitney on a weekly basis and is a super great guy. Doug the store owner and his family just top notch people. We spend hours telling tails of Mountain climbing and rehydrating, dinner at 6;00 PM and back to the camper for more sleep after two gallons of pedialyte water and electrolyte drinks the body. Fed rested, and hydrated and ready with a new enthusiasm for our journey!
Day 2: we awake at 1:30 AM this time spry and normal and ready , off we go at 2;07 am we reached the summit at 6:47...thats more like it! 10 min break some baby food and off we go down the trail towards Crabtree. There were several through hikers making their way up the backside as we descended to Crabtree we continued on over to Wallace Creek, Wright Creek, then Tyndall creek, and up the backside towards Shepherds pass with Tyndall in view .
We make it to the base of Tyndall at 1:30 pm right on schedule. We had some more food and made an executive decision to drop the Tyndall climb as we wanted to be back before dark this time so we ran down the pass to our commuter truck and were happy to be there. Our journey was 42 miles in 15:25 with 10,507ft of climbing... and had a BLAST, met some super great people on the Muir trail and had the best day ever at the Portal .
Thanks again to ALL at the Portal Store for feeding us and letting us revive at the coolest trailhead in the Sierra Mountains!
Hope this wasn't to much rambling..........
MW85
