20 miles
I got about 2 hours of sleep because I had to pee twice before my alarm went off at 23:30. I packed up and hit the trail at 23:55, five minutes before the rest of the group. I was sure they would catch up to me shortly. The full moon was high in the sky and it was so bright I could walk without using my head lamp (except in a few shadowy corners). There are 93 switchbacks to the summit of Mt Whitney and more than a few snow fields which made following the trail a bit tricky in a few spots. Over all it wasn't a particularly difficult walk, it was mostly just me and the moon. And me singing 'Hey Moon' by Molly Nilsson to the moon, it seemed appropriate since no one ever caught up to me. I was the first person to reach the summit (at 3:10). Twenty minutes later, Red Beard and Special Ops showed up. They were able to get the door to the summit shelter open and Special Ops made some hot coffee that we passed around as we layered up, pulled out sleeping bags to hunker down in to keep warm until sunrise. Pizza Beans, Sky and V-Dub arrived shortly after. Pizza Beans made a large pot of hot tea. It was wonderful. When the horizon started to look a tiny bit lighter, we found a good sized ledge to cram onto out of the wind. We huddled together on sleeping pads and in sleeping bags to keep warm. As the horizon brightened and the clouds changed hue, We guessed which peak the sun would pop up from behind. Finally the sun rose and the mountains lit up all around us. The summit cast a massive shadow near the setting full moon. It was an incredibly magical morning that felt very special, perfect weather, full moon and the summer solstice sunrise from the highest point in the lower 48. Amazing.
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| Pizza Beans, Red Beard, V-Dub, (Can't remember) |
A few more hikers showed up a little later and it was
time to go. I left the summit at about 6:30 AM and passed a ton of hikers
on their way up, a funny mouse thing called a Pika and at the lower
elevations many flowers I hadn't seen in the dark. I picked up my stove
and tarp from guitar lake (which is overrun with very bold marmots) and
got back to Crabtree around 11 AM, happy but exhausted.
I
rested a bit, filtered water, ate and stretched and then Emily and I
set off to do another 9 miles to set up the next day to hit Forester
pass in morning before the snow got too slushy.
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| V-Dub and her Staff |
Very, very long day and I was incredibly pooped by the end of it. 20
miles in 21 hours, only 3 of those were below 11000 feet, on two hours
of sleep. When I got to camp I ate dinner and went immediately to bed. I
don't remember ever being so tired but incredibly fulfilled in my life.
