| DATE: | September 8 - 11, 2000 | WEATHER: | beautiful, blue skies, temperature: 60s to 40s | HIKERS: | Horacio Arguello, Brian Ruiz, Sue Baughman, Steve Hale, Grant Tokumi |
Saturday, September 9, 2000. Group shot before our journey at the Whitney Portal trailhead. From left to right: Brian Ruiz, Active Bear warning sign, Grant Tokumi, Horacio Arguello, Sue Baughman, Steve Hale.
This store provides camping gear, patches, t-shirts, car oil, walking sticks, matches, kleenex, and other sorts of goodies. Prices seemed surprising reasonable too. Its a nice little joint, and the workers provide lots of valuable information for hiking and camping in the area. The store also provide good grinds (food) for before or after your journey. Food prices are outrageous, but it must taste like gourmet after 3 days on the trail.
Early switchback sections of the trail.
Looking back at Lone Pine Lake in the background.
Double stick actions - The portal store provided a very nice service of loaning out walking poles (free!) to hikers. Having always used just my one ski pole, and wanting to try 2 poles, this service was perfect. I borrowed one (the last one) Leki pole for our 3 day outing and also used my ski pole as the second stick. It worked pretty good I must say because my knees didn't bother me one bit after our journey. They sold poles at the portal store for $40 each which is actually pretty reasonable. I didn't buy, but I will seriously consider purchasing a pair before my next long backpack trip.
Stopped here at Trailcamp for the night. The bear canisters stored our food, but also served as nice stools as Steve (center) shows while enjoying his freeze dried lasagna.
Sunday, September 10, 2000. This day was our day to reach the summit. After a long set of switchbacks, we reached the top of a ridge and could see Sequoia National Park on the other side. I guess that lake towards the bottom right was called "Guitar Lake".
After another couple hours or so along the ridge, we finally approach the Mt. Whitney summit. This shack at the top is supposedly a shelter for hikers in case of a lightning storm up here. There is a bunch of vertical steel rods on the roof that are grounded, but my understanding is that it is still the worst place to be in lightning. So I guess if your hair starts standing on end, run like the wind!
Views at the summit. This one looks back at our campsite. The lake behind that mountain is pretty huge and is not too far from our campsite. Its one of three above our campsite, and couldn't be seen until we started up the trail. I was pretty surprised when they came into view.
Sue smiling for the camera as she prepares to push Brian over the edge. Brian wondering why Sue is smiling and blocking him there. Steve blowing his nose.
Grant, Brian, and Horacio pretending not to be scared at the edge of this cliff.
Steve brought his handy video camera up with him and played interviewer with all of us. Here he is with Horacio.
After being weathered out 2 years ago by lightning, thunder, cold rain, and hail, Whitney decided to be a gentle host to us this year and provided nothing but blue skies through our 3 day, 3 night outing.
Bears
Bears was a big issue this year, and we were required to keep our food and trash in the 3 pound plastic bear canisters ($76 each!!) during our trek. Expensive buggas, but they did serve as nice stools for sitting around the cooking area, and I must admit, they forced me to keep my food somewhat organized, or at least all in one location. We used 3 canisters for the 5 of us. Depending on how much food you bring, that may be enough. Bears did not reach us at Trailcamp, but Steve's van had a few encounters in the portal parking lot during the trip. Bear paw prints on windows and roof, and an out of whack windshield wiper served as evidence.
High flashlight casualties
Before we even started hiking, Brian borrows my flashlight to take a piss at the latrine. I give him my mini maglight in the holster, and you know it, flashlight slips out of the holster, right into the "hole in the ground" toilet. Yummy. Saturday night at Trailcamp, Horacio's mini maglight fails to work. New batteries don't do the trick, no spare bulb. Second light, gone. Sunday night, Brian's flashlight runs out of batteries. Good thing we have spare batteries. Lesson: Always bring spare flashlight and spare batteries.
Itinerary
Friday night - Reach Whitney Portal (4.5 hour drive from Las Vegas), meet Steve and Sue, sleep in Brian's truck.
Saturday- Whitney Portal to Trail Camp - approximately 6 miles. time: approx. 8 hours.
Sunday - Ascent to Mt. Whitney Summit (elev. 14,496ft) - approximately 10 miles round trip time: approx. 8 hours, including around 1.5 hours at the top and a nice 30 minute chat with Sarah Smith (she was in the middle of a 200 mile, 30 day trek on the John Muir trail).
Monday - Trail Camp to Whitney Portal: approx. 6 miles. Time: approx. 6 hours. Grind some pizza at a pizza place in Lone Pine. Drive home.
Notes:
Temperatures reached around the 40s at night. Day temperatures varied. In any case, make sure you bring warm clothes: jacket, long pants, gloves, something to cover the ears, good sleeping bag. Bring rain gear too. Weather was perfect for us this year, but I know the weather is very unpredictable up there. Click here for pictures and write-up from my unsuccessful attempt in 1998.