Day 56: Mount Whitney

Edited with a couple of updates .... now writing from Mammoth ...
Today I'm taking a side trip to Mount Whitney: the highest mountain of the USA outside Alaska and the highest elevation I ever visited on foot. The elevation is 14,500 feet (4421 meters) above sea level, an elevation gain of 4200 feet (around 1300 meters) from the Crabtree meadow campground. Fortunately I can leave my bear canister and most other stuff in the camp, and only take essentials like warm clothing with me for the hike up. It feels funny hiking with such a light backpack. The trail first climbs only gradually through alpine forest past two lakes: Timberline Lake and Guitar Lake.






Above guitar lake there are only few shrubs; the trail resembles a stream much of the time; and crosses some little snowfields. Most of the snow has already melted and there's lots of water everywhere. Marmots are watching from the rocks and I also hear and see a coyote climbing up a hillside.






From 12,000 ft elevation upwards the climb becomes steeper, around same steepness as the Y trail in Provo, but the thin air and high elevation makes it a very strenuous climb. I meet a few hikers already coming back from top - they started climbing at night and reached summit just in time for sunrise. The surrounding mountains start appearing lower as the trail ascends up the switchbacks. Across the glacial  valley is the scary looking Mount Hitchcock with dark colored lakes below.








Finally after taking deep breaths every couple of steps I reach the trail junction. From here it is less than 2 miles to the summit. More Mountains and lakes can be seen below and there are also more hikers, some of them have climbed up here via Whitney Portal on the east side of the mountain.






The main summit can be seen in a distance. It I still a long hike to get there. Views open up into the deep desert valley on the east side, then we cross a snowfield, and finally we see the little hut on the top.








The weather via perfect and the views are amazing. The "beak" on my nose is for prevention of sunburn from the strong UV in the thin mountain air.










I enjoy the view, chat with other hikers - two of theme are also BYU cougars and one speaks Czech :-) and then start the long descent back.

In one saddle on the sharp ridge I have signal, so I send my blog posts from there.

Next update will be from Mammoth Lakes, about 10 days from today. More high mountain wilderness lies ahead!

Upozornění pro čtenáře: příští aktualizaci plánuji zhruba za 10 dní z Mammoth Lakes po přechodu vysoké Sierry.

The way down from the summit was easier than up in the case of Whitney. I came back down to crabtree meadow campground, met my Czech friends Lucy, Rocksteady and Petra who were planning to climb up for next day sunrise, and luckily the campground had a toilet - because on my way up to summit under a rock I found a plastic bag with human poop and I carried it in my backpack back pocket all the way up and back down. Finally in campground toilet I got rid of the shit :-)

After eating a big early supper I decided to hike a bit further to get me closer to Forrester Pass. The next section of the PCT goes through the high Sierras through seven very high mountain passes, each one above the tree line and with snow on ground  long into summer months. The names of the passes are: Forrester, Glen, Pinchot, Mather, Muir, Selden and Silver. Luckily for hikers like me the Pacific Crest trail does not go on the main Sierra crest in this section - that would be only for professional mountaineers. Still, just getting over the passes will be a challenge requiring good physical endurance, timing and weather. One pass per day is more than enough. It is recommended to be up in the pass before noon, while the snow still is firm enough to walk on.

At Wallace Creek it was already almost dark. I took off my shoes and pants to ford the deep water, and then found a site under a pine tree on the other side to pitch my bivy tent and get good sleep before tomorrow's climb.