Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney Old Timers...What Made You Shake Your Head

Many of us have gone up and down the MMWT many times and we have seen or heard some very interesting things...to say the least.

In 2001, I was sitting on ledge at Lower Trail Crest changing some clothes to go lower when a group of day hikers blew by me heading for Guitar Lake. I asked, "Where are you going?", they said Mt. Whitney. I advised them of their mistake and they were their merry way. About two minutes later, another group did the same exact thing.

Last year after reaching the summit I was on my way down at about mile 10 when I looked up and saw the famous "Naked Hiker" coming toward me. We passed each other and he continued on to the top. All he had on was socks, shoes, a small back pack, and a smile.

Hiker Neil

I did the Horseshoe Meadows to Mt. Whitney trip this July.

While waiting at trailcrest, there were dayhikers coming back down the mountain wanting to take the trail down to Guitar Lake, it's like hello people, were you not just here an hour or two ago?

Also had someone ask me on top what the faster way down was, as in another trail, he didn't mean the MR, but a whole different trail altogether.

Then there was the people that started following me when I went to do the scramble up to Mt. Muir, they didn't look like they wanted to do it and thought there wasn't any climbing. So I asked them and they thought they were following me to the top of Whitney.

On our way back from the summit on August 6th of this year, my son and I stopped at trail crest for a break. While we were talking to some other hikers a man and woman in their mid 40s came up from Guitar Lake. They dropped their gear, sat down and enjoyed a cigarette. The lady looked to be about 180lbs. They started from horseshoe a few days earlier. I should of asked how many packs they packed for the trip.

The weirdest thing I've ever seen on the Whitney trail was around 1998. Two guys in their early 20's were in front of us just above Mirror Lake. Both had cigarettes in their mouths. One was rolling the top of a picnic table on the ground and the other was carrying the four table legs. I guess they were planning on stopping somewhere to assemble the table. Neither had a backpack or any visible water and both were wearing the orange day hiker tags on their shorts.

Late 80's I was on the way down the main trail after summitting. Passed a hiker who was on the way up the 99 switchbacks. Only thing he was carrying was a loaf of wonder bread, no water, no daypack, just a loaf of wonder bread. Makes one wonder......

sierragator -- I don't think I've had Wonder bread in 40 years, but everyone knows that you can compress a slice into a pellet the size of a sugar cube. That means the guy was carrying a loaf he could have held in a pants pocket! :-)

A month ago, my son and I hiked up Whitney while finishing off the JMT. When we got to the Greyound Bus Terminal (the place where people leave packs at the intersection of the JMT and the Whitney Main Trail near Trail Crest), we stopped for a minute but did not take off our packs. They were down below 20 pounds and had our lunch, water, etc. As we headed up, a guy (day hiker) started chewing out my son for not leaving his pack behind like everyone else. His friend actually had to tell him to calm down. We never figured out what the issue was. I don't think he was collecting fees for stored packs -- that I could have understood. :-)

I posted this story in the past but I guess it’s worth repeating for this thread. About 5 years ago a group of us were coming back down and right at Mirror Lake we came across three ladies hiking up. Each had one REI shopping bag in each hand and the bags contained their thermarest, sleeping bag, food, bottle of water and some clothes. The sleeping bags, thermarest and food were all still wrapped in the store wrapping and they did not have a bear canister. I made an attempt to talk to them about their plans only to find out they did not speak any English. They just kept saying “Whitney” and pointing up the trail. I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or impress on them that they should turn around. Since it was the middle of August I decided there were plenty of people on the trail to help if they really did get in trouble. I pulled my headlamp out and used it as a communication tool to make sure they had one and knew how to use it. After we got back to the Portal to have our beer and burger we couldn’t believe no one got a picture.

I havn't seen the real extremes of wierdness or stupidity on whitney but rather the Grand Canyon.For some reason folks think that it takes no effort to do the river and back in one day.

In the afternoon going up Bright Angel at around Indian gardens, I came across three foreign tourists who were hiking down without water bottles,with leather wingtip shoes! They asked me, "how far to the river?" Observing they also had no flashlight and predicting they would reach the river just before dark and then have a long hike back I said "turn around now or you are going to Die" and kept going.

On Fourth of July weekend, in 2005, as I started down the switchbacks from Trailcrest, I saw two complete nutcases glissade the chute with ice axes sticking out of their backpacks!!!. I hollered at the top of my lungs at them, but they just waved. One of them actually tumbled head over heels two separate times, and still kept his axe in his pack. Maybe he thought that if he didn't use it, the store would refund his money?

I have also seen the "Naked Hiker." On June 21, 2000, a friend and I saw him above Trail Crest. To be fair, he may have shaken his head at us, because there was a thunderstorm occurring and he was descending while we were ascending.

Shawn

a little of topic sorry but i wonder if the "naked Hiker" is from so cal i had a naked guy hike up on top of Mt. Baldy while i was sitting on the summit that was somthing i was not expecting to see up there ha any way good stories i am suprised more people dont die in the wilderness with all the unprepared people i have seen also.

I personally didn't see this, but a few years ago there was a post, I believe on this board, of some guys carrying kayacks over Trail Crest and down to the Kern River. The photos were incredible.

AnotherSteve:

Trip report:
http://www.stanford.edu/~jdlevin/Trips/Kern/Kern_Headwaters.htm

The famous rock climber, Royal Robbins, did this first descent.

Great thread.

Several times I've seen people in flip flops above Trail Camp, and that always makes me shake my head.

Two years ago I saw a young woman walking alone down from the needles carrying nothing but a small purse and wearing Keds. She looked like she was going to the grocery store.

I've also encountered a topless woman (topless except for her backback) walking up with her young kids near Lone Pine lake.

I won't touch the many, many unprepared folks I've seen above Trail Camp not turning back when they should or making other basic but dangerous mistakes.