Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion First Timer

We went trough Onion Valley south to Guitar Lake and then up and over. I can honestly say having 5 days between 8,000-13,500 prior to making the ascent really helped. The climb from Guitar to trail crest was easier then the long climb up to Forrester Pass. What amazed me was the amount of day hikers. We summited about 12:30 after leaving camp around 7:30. Just before returning to trail crest I met a group still going up, about 1.5 hours to the top. They had been on the trail since 1:30 AM. That's 12.5 hours already. The killer for the day was putting the pack back on and making the climb east from trail crest. Then the endless switchbacks which are basically on rock the whole way down. All in all it was a great trip and Whitney was the highlight for me. Though I was pretty impressed with the east side of Forrester Pass. I just find it hard to believe people will day hike the 22 miles in one trip. I also saw a lot of O2 canisters from Amazon stuffed in side pockets of packs.

At Whitney Portal after dark, you can see a stream of headlamps working their way down the last part of the trail. It is one grueling hike for most day hikers.