We just finished our 3-day Mt. Whitney hike. It was WONDERFUL. It was also BEAUTIFUL. And FUN. And TRIUMPHANT!
So many thank yous to this group for suggestions, tips and gear.
We started out with a lot of uncertainty - we were going for a walk-in permit since we didn't get a lottery spot and nothing ever opened up for us.
Acclimatization was
Day 1 sea level (Big Sur)
Day 2 544 feet (San Louis reservoir)
Day 3 4000 feet (Yosemite valley)
Day 4 7700 feet (Yosemite Creek Campground)
Day 5 9700 feet (Tioga Pass campground)
Day 6 10,000 feet (Horseshoe Meadows)
As we drove down from Horseshoe Meadow on Monday the 21st, we were a little surprised to see some people jogging up it, or fastwalking. They had numbers on, so we cheered them out the windows and gave them thumbs up. It only took a few support vans covered in magnets to figure out this was the Badwater Race (
http://www.badwater.com/route/ ). So we cheered all the
runners as they came up and we went down; in first gear at 20mph to save the brakes and to be able to make room for runners.
We got to the visitor center at 10:30and waited for the 11:00 lottery. I had thought the lottery was for entries that day, but had found out at our prior day's visit I was wrong and I could only hope for a Tuesday entry. Better than nothing, but weather was threatening Thurs, so I was sad to miss a good weather window. Well anyway, got our spot in line (5th) and arrived at the desk to find only 3 overnights available for Tues. So sad (and a little mad at the guys ahead of us in line who apparently joined together for a group of 4 even though both had lottery numbers! Turned out they were looking for a different trail so we felt bad for dissing them!). Anyway, clerk says, I'm sorry, only 3... UNLESS you can start today instead? What!? Yes!!! Outstanding!
So we grabbed our permits and headed for whitney portal. We had packed most of our packs in the hopes that we might possibly be able to start Monday, but still had a little rearranging to do so we didn't get started until 1:30. Got our extra food and toiletries all packed into a bear vault and double checked the lock (remember this for later) and locked up the car. Hit the trail at 1:30 with packs weighing 23.5, 24, 30 and 45. We agreed (my husband and I; the kids thought this was suspect logic...) that I should have a very light pack since I'm the least fit, so I had a 24# pack. My 12yo daughter had 23.5#, the 14yo boy had 30# which he thought was terribly unfair, and my husband shouldered 45#.
Off we went in fair weather with the hopes of making it to Trail camp. We felt we needed to get that far to make Summit day viable for our level of skill. We did well, and frankly, I felt FANTASTIC. I had to go slowly to keep going (you know how they say "jog at the speed that allows you to carry a conversation," I have never been able to do that at any speed above a walk!) but I made my pace and we hit our goals. The strategy is, I plod along and hubbin and the kids jackrabbit ahead and take long rests which pleases them. It's the way we make it to the top of tough hikes. We carry a set of family radios, so I can check in if I need to.
Beautiful, just beautiful!! Loved the hike. We stayed mostly together, as the kids wanted/needed frequent breaks. I don't think it was because they were tired, but because they were both reading books they liked and wanted to read more. But it worked, and we pressed on past outpost and reached trail camp at 7:30pm. Cold and windy, but we had gear enough to keep us warm. We made a cold dinner (planned) and hit the sack ready to do the summit. No one had any altitude symptoms, so we were feeling pretty strong.
I was feeling very optimistic because of how the first 6 miles went. Still, it was kind of hard to sleep well. Very windy.
Tuesday morning the 22nd, we awoke and had breakfast and started our hike at 8am. I had lobbied for a very early start, but my husband countered that we have done this altitude and this distance before, so we should make it more fun for the kids by NOT waking them up in the dark.
We left Trail Camp at 8:30am and started up the switchbacks. I LOVED THE SWITCHBACKS. They played right to my strengths; I could plod along steadily without climbing over big boulders or up steep cliffs (yeah, I'm talking to YOU, Katahdin!). To me this means I can slow down if I need to and just plod smaller steps; something that is impossible if the steps are big things to climb over. The kids and hubbin went on ahead and we agreed that we'd turn on radios at the top and bottom of every hour (to conserve batteries). Near trail crest I wished I had one of the smaller water bottles so I could put it in my front pocket and drink more. So I radioed ahead and asked them to send one down with someone coming downhill. Less than 10 minutes later, 3 friendly fellows asked if I was the wife waiting for water, and handed me a 0.5 liter platypus.
Perfect!. And I still felt so great. Easily tired, yes, from the altitude, but I could maintain a 1mph pace without feeling dangerous or overworked.
The kids got to read their books for over an hour at Trail Crest while they waited for me at our planned re-grouping. More snacks, appreciation of the view, and off we went for the "back side". The rest of the family took off at their pace and I kept going at mine. I should mention that I do carry a full survival and medical kit as this is essentially a "solo hike." Even though we have the radios, I plan as if I'm on my own. If the trail were less crowded we wouldn't even do this; we've been on mountains alone before and those times we stay together no matter what.
Anyway,there I am on the back and as I come across some areas that have what appear to be recent rock falls and I'm climbing over them, I realize I haven't seen ANYONE for more than 15 minutes maybe more. Unusual on this day. So I pause and radio ahead, "is the trail really this fractured here or did I get off course?" Nope, that's what they climbed, too. H'okay, on I go. I see return hikers soon, so I feel relieved. There are some hairy sections of trail there! About when I get to the two knife-edge sections, they radio that they have reached the summit. YAY! If you subtract their wait for me at Trail Crest, they did it in 4 hours. I'm still feeling FABULOUS and they will wait for me up there. At one of my rests, I watch a raven catch a thermal updraft and ride from far below me to up above me. Beautiful. No doubt now that I'm going to summit along with the kids and my husband.
I made it up there at 2:30 six hours after I left Trail Camp. Triumphant, victorious, loving the view, the trail and the mountain. There was a threesome behind me most of the way, about 10 - 20 minutes back, and they arrived just after. It was nice to share the achievement with them, as they were working equally hard. The weather was outstanding. Windy, but not too much, sunny, no imminent storms, pleasant temps.
The trip back down we all did together since my speed is no problem going downhill. I did feel a little lighheaded and disoriented briefly (and told the kids this was why we carried the radios, so I could call if we were apart and say I'm sitting down, come back for me). I wasn't sure if it was altitude, hydration or a sugar crash, so I sat and had lots of water, lots of sugar and felt much better. We went slowly to stay safe and my husband said he was feeling headachey too. By the time we got back to trail crest the symptoms were gone for both of us.
We met a nice man who was at one of the "windows" celebrating his birthday, he'd decided not to try to summit again, just enjoy the view from there before heading down since it was after 3:00. We wished him a happy birthday and agreed there was lots of nice things about the mountain that didn't require the summit.
I set the pace back down the switchbacks and the others were able to keep up and we got back to trail camp at 7pm, 4 hours after leaving the summit. Wonderful!
On Wednesday, we broke camp and hiked back down. We stopped at Lone Pine Lake and it looked so inviting we jumped right in! (well, hubbin and I, the kids declined) Three cheers for quick-dry clothing! That felt great in the heat.
Back down to Whitney Portal in good time, not sure how long from Trail camp, since we stopped to swim.
And then we discovered that someone had left our bear vault unlocked while we were gone. Bins of food ravaged and a whole piece of luggage containing toiletries kits and beer just gone. At first we thought it was thieving humans, but then we saw the claw marks, and realized it must have been left unlocked. Asked the ranger if she knew about it, in case anyone had found and returned the bag. She said ask at the store, so I went there and they told me that a bear had dragged some stuff across the creek previously and maybe the same place would hold our stuff. So we went to look and there it was!!! Got that back, beer and all. Lost all the chocolate, and would you believe the bear ate all my seaweed snacks! But the nice bear did not drag the bag through the water, s/he carried it dry to the other side. Frankly, I was glad our bear incident happened 6 miles away from us.
So thanks to everyone for all the tips and hints. Gear, places to camp and acclimatize, food ideas. Unqualified success and a hike of a lifetime. My husband says he needs to come back some day and do it all in one day. I will wait for him at Lone Pine Lake that day, I think.
