From:
Jacksonville Courier, Jacksonville, Ill., Aug. 3, 1955Jacksonville 10 Year Old Girl Climbs To Top Of Mt. Whitney
Jayne Ann Henly, a 10 year old Jacksonville girl, may have established a new record for girls of her age when she climbed to the crest of Mt. Whitney, in California, the highest mountain in the United States.
Her feat was accomplished Thursday, July 28, while accompanied by her father, Wayne L. Henly, 716 Routt street, and her uncle, Fred Stanley Howell, Edwards, Calif. Henly is a letter carrier at the Jacksonville post office.
The 27 mile hike from Whitney Portal to the crest of Mt. Whitney, 14,500 feet above sea level in the Sierra Nevada range, was made in total hiking time of 13 hours. One hour was spent at the top near John Muir's abandoned weather station for lunch and resting for the return Trip.
May be Juvenile Record Howell, in reporting the climb, said he is attempting to determine whether Jayne Ann's climb sets a record for her age. She will enter the fifth grade at Franklin school in September.
The signatures of Henly and his daughter are now recorded with the statistics in the Sierra Club registers on top of Telescope and Whitney.
The hiking feat has seldom been accomplished, even by seasoned mountain hikers. It requires that the hiker climb over 6,000 feet altitude in 13 1/2 miles over a rocky trail that is difficult walking at best. At its worst the hikker is forced to ford mountain streams and pick a path over unmarked stone rubble.
Footsore But Proud The hikers departed from Whitney Portal at 4:30 a.m., well before sunrise. The first hour of the climb was done with the aid of a flashlight. They arrived back at the Portal at 6:30 p.m., footsore but proud of an accomplishment completed.
Most visitors to Whitney spend one day hiking to one of the high lakes near Whitney where they camp and then start for the top early in the morning of the second day with only a few miles of trip remaining. The Henlys had set the climbing of Mount Whitney as one of the goals of this year's vacation. Whether or not it was to be attempted rested on the trial climb of Telescope Mountain in the Panamint Mountain Range overlooking Death Valley. Telescope is a shorter hike, roughly seven miles, although the trail is somewhat steeper than the Whitney Trail. Henly and Jayne Ann conquered Telescope on Monday, July 25, with a performance that assured them of being able to make the Whitney climb without an overnight rest. Newspaper clipping:
