The following was posted on the Whitney FB page a few days ago. Anyone heading up soon, a pic or 3 of this would be appreciated. Measurements or something in the pic for scale would be helpful. It is not believed to be either radioactive or toxic, but ya never know about things up there (cue the Theremin):

Does anyone know the story behind that metal box thing beside the main trail, near switchback maybe 26 or 27? It looked kind of like a drawer from a 1950s era filing cabinet or something. Definitely NOT something even the least UL hiker would've carried in their pack, so I'm guessing it's from an old surveying trip, or was deliberately placed nearby to hold something and then got damaged? Unfortunately I didn't get a picture. Spotted on my descent 8/15/17.

Doesn't the old trail to Whitney Pass start somewhere around switchback 25, 27, or 29? Possibly an artifact from the old trail.

Maybe. Whitney pass is way south. And I thought that trail went right up from Consultation Lake, a different drainage.

I think there are a couple of pictures of this item on a FB Mountain Whitney post from Rosa Fernandez Suarez

Thanks, Frank!

Here are the two pictures:




Those two pull-attachments and the rusty bottom make me think it was used as a gravel-hauling box. Fill it with gravel/sand, and then drag it down the trail and dump the gravel where it's needed.

The gal who posted the pictures wrote that she thinks it was close to switchback 29.