Episode #13: The Mt Whitney Experience

A friend of mine called me out of the blue one day in late in 2003 to say 'hey I want to hike Mt. Whitney and do not want to attempt it on my own, would you do this with me?" My first reaction was to politely say no, but what I said was I don't know about that, by the way what is Mt. Whitney? Little did I know that this crazy call was to be the catalyst to jump start my adventure traveling over the next few years.

This metal marker is attached on a boulder just outside the small rock built ranger station at the highest point in the continental United States.

At this time I did not know the significance of this hike and summit. I didn't realize Mt. Whitney was the highest point in the lower 48 states of North America. I did not know it was a hike, and not a technical climb. I did not know how hard this was going to be. I did not know fun could be this much work and this was indeed a lot of work! I did not know what I had gotten myself into.

For almost a year I read, researched and learned about hiking at altitude in general, the hazards of this this summit hike, and the process involved just getting a permit to get on the trail. I quickly found out that the gear I would need for this trek would need to be of high quality and extremely light weight which meant I had to invest in the right gear thus spending a lot of money to insure I had set myself up for success. I had only the standard Walmart stuff which was big, bulky and heavy. The next 9 months I trained and hiked scores and scores of miles while carrying a backpack loaded with 60-70 lbs. Another challenge I was facing is the fact that I live at an elevation of around 700' above sea level, so there was no opportunity to prepare and train for the 14,500' elevation of Mt. Whitney and that concerned me.

The first day and night there was primarily to acclimate to the altitude. We camped and hiked at 9200' which was breath taking in more ways than one. It was very pretty and a good opportunity to test and see how we were going to do in air that was as thin as this. As always, the photo here does not capture the real beauty of the location.

Notice the item on the left of picture. Something I had learned about but candidly was not completely ready to deal with. This was a campsite bear box. The bear population is substantial and a very real hazard. The little store near the trail head had lots of pictures of damage done to cars due to food left inside. Car doors and trunk lids were literally ripped off like aluminum foil by these massive creatures.

Hikers cannot not carry the drinking water needed due to the weight, so I had to find a water filter that would be good enough to eliminate bacteria like cryptosporidium, giardia and e-coli. A very necessary tool as I found out some of the only water sources on the trail would be ponds that capture rain water. The tree line at Mt. Whitney is at 11,000' which means a solid rock surface for the next 3,400' of elevation with no grass, soil or dirt. This means all of the rain water runoff into these ponds would include animal fecal matter 😬. 

I had no idea of the popularity of this hike but quickly found it was a bit of a mecca for hikers. There are so many people that go there every year, the Park service had to start limiting the number of hikers and campers. A permit was required for the day(s) you were planning to be there and the later you wait to apply, the greater the chance you would not get it. I had to enter my first choice of days to be there plus two alternate dates. If they were nearing capacity, the application would be entered into a lottery pool and chosen from there. I submitted my application 7 months ahead of time and was lucky to get my first choice. While I do love the beach, these majestic mountains have a raw beauty of their own. Here is a shot of one of  the Mt. Whitney peaks looming in the background from over a dozen miles away, and near the trail head.

As mentioned earlier regarding the need of an adequate filter for drinking water, the only real option for meals was that of dehydrated food, which again requires water. Some of the meals were not too bad, but even the best brand of scrambled eggs were not very tasty.

The morning of August 24, and leaving the trailhead a little after daybreak ready for the hike to the last camping option at Out Post Camp which lies 10 miles up the trail. The trailhead elevation is 8,360' above sea level and knowing the summit is over mile of elevation to gain, I am concerned about all I had read about altitude sickness. In preparation of this hike, I was taking baby asprins for several days to help thin my blood and I think that I am acclimating well, but that is a lot of altitude for this life long flat lander. 

As we prepared to start up the trail, I find it is a mandatory requirement to have everything I am carrying in my backpack stowed in a 'bear box' for the duration of the hike. This 'bear box' is really more of a thick and heavy plastic barrel with a smooth, flush mounted screw on lid with two flush mounted levers on opposite sides that must be depressed at the same time so the lid would unscrew from the barrel shaped 'box'. There was no edge or lip for a bear to be able to insert his claws into so to rip it open. This was engineer designed to keep the bear out and odor or fragrance of food or supplies undetectable by the keen sense of smell of a bear. Fortunately the backpack I bought for this adventure was just barely big enough to carry this 'bear box'.

There is a scale there to weigh your backpack to be sure hikers knew how much weight they are carrying. Mine weighed a touch over 64 pounds including my newly acquired bear box.

I distinctly remember as I started up the trail and could see a view of the summit of the mountain, I literally said, if I did not know for sure this could be done, I would say this is an impossible task. On one section of the trail there were posts embedded into the rock of the mountain with steel cable for hikers to hold on to for safety purposes with a very steep sloughing edge immediately next to the cable. There was a stretch where the trail was only wide enough for one foot to step and I had to step forward or backward to place my other foot. Another even longer section was so very steep there was no way to ascend further. The trail was developed and improved with a series of 96 switchbacks just to continue the hike. Even with these switchbacks, it was a very arduous section. I remember having to stop every couple of minutes just to stand still and breath. I found myself counting steps and the most I could make without stopping for a break was 100 very slow steps.

The plan was to reach Out Post Camp on the first day on the trail and make the summit the next day which lies almost two more miles up the trail. It took 10 hard hours of heart pounding hiking just to get to this point. When we arrive at Out Post it is 5:15 pm and getting shadowy as the sun is already behind the peak of the giant mountain. Keep in mind this is August 24 and there is still snow on the ground. The entire area is littered with tents and some that were planning on sleeping in sleeping bags under the stars. I quickly shed my backpack, open the bear box and get my water filter and fill a couple of bottles for drinking and the upcoming dehydrated spaghetti and meatball packaged meal as the hike took virtually all the water carried in the camel back I had since the last water hole found along the trail.

So many times during this hike, I would just stop and soak in stark and raw environment of where I was thinking only a day ago  among the huge trees and beautiful lakes. I remember when I took this shot, I was thinking this looks more like pictures I have seen from the surface of the moon. It was a certainly like nothing I had ever seen before.

The next morning we were up early before sunrise and it was amazingly cold! A cup of hot water, some yummy dehydrated eggs and time to get going. I did not sleep well on the hard rock ground where the tent was pitched and was still very fatigued from the ten mile mountain hike from yesterday and I was moving pretty slow at first but excited to start the summit push.

The research I did over the last many months let me know how important it is to summit early and get down from the top as there was frequent early afternoon lightening and there were many documented deaths by lightening strikes. 

Obviously everyone else knew of this condition as there was a lot of activity with folks moving around and getting ready to summit. It was almost comical as almost everyone there including me was wearing a headlight. You know the kind, a small light with elastic straps that fit around your head. As people were leaving Out Post heading up the trail, it looked like a bunch of fireflies moving around. 

As dawn begins to break we are back on the trail and gaining altitude as the sun climbs in the morning sky. The fatigue is still there but adrenaline has kicked in as we are moving up for the final push of the remaining 900' of elevation from Trail Crest in the picture below at 13,600'. As you can see it is bright, clear and still pretty chilly. I have not forgotten about the potential lightening so there is that motivation to move on as quickly as possible.

Finally the summit has been conquered on August 25, 2004! I was 47 years and 19 days old. What an amazing achievement and so happy to be here, on top of the free world. Here are  a few of the many summit pictures I took. The cascading mountain tops of the Sierra Nevada range seen here off in the distance was a gorgeous site and more awesome than the pictures capture.

Now that I made it to the top, my name was going into that register for sure!

After soaking in the moment for about an hour or so and visiting with the others that were there at the same time and talking about the trip up, it is time to head down the hill. As soon as we get back to Out Post Camp, we take down the tent, pack it up and head down the mountain. While all of the hazards we encountered on the way up were still there, the trip is amazingly fast and so much easier. My memory is it took only about three and a half hours to get back to the trail head. 

As soon as we arrive I find out the little store there had shower facilities. I got my $10 worth and showered for probably 15 minutes. It felt good to be clean again.

Epilog-

This was no doubt an amazing adventure that exceeded my expectations of mental and physical challenge from the decision to go until I landed back in Dallas on the 26th. This will be the barometer for every adventure to come. I am so glad I did it as there is no way I would even consider doing this now. After I got home and told Carol Ann how amazing the trip was and the minutia of the mile by mile commentary, she remarks "it sounds like you had a great adventure, what are you going to do for your next one?"   

Just one of the many reasons I love her!

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