This was my second time hiking the main Mt. Whitney trail. Made it to just above 13,800' feet then turned back due to uncertainty about the weather. Here is a recap of the trip:
Day one: Sun. July 5th
Left LA at 5:30 a.m., drove to Lone Pine and picked up my permit at the visitor's center. Had breakfast at Alabama Hills Cafe and then drove to Mosquito Flat trailhead and hiked to Mono Pass. Checked in at Rock Creek Lodge.
Day two: Mon. July 6th
Hung out on the porch of my cabin at Rock Creek Lodge and read a book. Checked out at noon, then drove to Mosquito Flat again, found a shady spot near the creek and read some more. Left mid-afternoon when it started hailing, dropped by Rock Creek Lodge to take a shower, drove to Whitney Portal family campground (with a stop in Bishop for dinner).
Day three: Tues. July 7th
Was planning to wake up at 2:00 a.m. and start the hike at 3:00 a.m., but I was up at 1:00 and on the trail at 2:00. Used the headlamp as little as possible; no headlamp necessary by Trail Camp.
There was a hail storm the previous day and the switchbacks were covered in what looked like hail pellets frozen together. I didn't have any traction devices so while ascending the switchbacks wasn't a problem, I was a little worried about coming down. I assumed that it would melt as the temps warmed up but wasn't sure. At one point on the switchbacks I turned around to go down, then changed my mind and headed back up to Trail Crest.
The trail on the back side of the mountain was covered with snow. It was a little more grippy than the switch backs but dicey in spots and I was trying to be really careful; I was concerned about the trail becoming icy. The temps were cool along the back side with light wind. About 8:00 am some darker clouds rolled in from the south, brushing across and over the summit. I made it to about a mile from the summit and was already thinking should I or shouldn't I proceed when another hiker turned around and said he wasn't going to risk it. This made a lot of sense to me...given the information (including yesterday's flash flood warnings, reports of the hail storm from Trail Camp campers, the condition of the trail, and the iffy weather forecasts I had seen), I didn't want to be caught in a hail or snow storm. For a while the summit was in and out of the clouds and didn't look too appetizing. So I decided to turn around.
I think this was a good decision at the time, but within a couple hours it was sunny with light white puffy clouds and probably would have been great at the summit! About halfway down the switchbacks I considered turning around again and heading for the summit but that thought didn't last long haha. I enjoyed the hike back to the Portal and farted around taking pictures of marmots, talking to other hikers, etc. When all was said and done I hiked about 19-20 miles and was on the mountain for just under 11 hours.
No problems with altitude...I felt really comfortable on the back side of the mountain after Trail Crest. The warm up hike at Mono Pass was great: not strenuous, about 7 1/2 miles from 10K to 12K. I think Rock Creek Lodge is about 9400 feet and I would definitely stay there again.
The trail was really wet all the way to trail camp. On the way down the switchbacks were slushy and sloppy, but the rest of the trail had dried out for the most part.
