Whitney Hike Friday, June 29th, 2007
Dad - 46 years old, good health, walks a couple miles per day.
Jimmy - 16 years old, good health, plays soccer.
Jimmy and I drove up to Whitney Portal on Thursday in the Honda Civic. We hiked from the camp site I reserved, to the store and back for a little exercise. We thought the store might be closed when we finished our hike on Friday so we bought our “Whitney in one day” patches early. We camped at the portal Thursday night.
At 03:30 the alarm went off and I started the water to boil for oatmeal. I got Jimmy up before 4am and we started packing things up. We each wore or carried: shorts with a pair of athletic pants to put on over, sweatshirt or long underwear top, warm hat, sun hat, and a windbreaker. We each brought: an emergency blanket, emergency poncho, hand warmers, sunglasses, and two quarts carrying capacity for water. I also brought gloves, the camera, water purification tablets, and a cell phone. For food we had an apple and a couple slices of bread apiece, granola-power-snicker bars. We took a long drink and applied the sunscreen before we started. Of course we had the toilet bags and wilderness permit issued at the Nat. Forest Service Office.
As we were locking the last few things in the car we saw a couple people start on the trail and a few others pull into the parking area. At 04:40 hours I started my stop watch and we began walking up the trail. We used our LED flashlights for the first thirty minutes or more. The sun was full up shortly after we passed Lone Pine Lake.
I drank from two 16 oz bottles on my hips. Each time one of them emptied, I put a purification tablet in the bottle and filled it at the next water source. I went back and forth between those two bottles with out having to use the water in the bottle in my pack for quite a while. Jimmy had a two quart hydration bag in his pack. I took along a set of military surplus ski poles and ankle and knee braces. It was my hope that the use of all these items would make the trip easier. The ski poles stuck way up out of the pack and some knuckle head made a joke about them as we passed him.
We saw deer in a meadow just before the first camping area that is commonly used by overnight hikers. This camping area has a creek that passes through it and trees. Through this area we shared granola bars and drank regularly. We passed a few people going the same direction as we walked along. One of the people going the opposite direction told me the last water crossing the trail was in the lower third of the switch backs (just over half way into the hike). Shortly after passing the first camping area the trail rose over timberline and we had no more trees. We kept our feet moving, tried the poweraid gel we bought (nasty tasting) and found ourselves at the next camping area. This place is pretty desolate in appearance. I guess it is a camping area because it sits in a fairly level area. The switch backs started just past this area. There is supposedly 99 - 100 switchbacks and I am glad they are there. The trail is kept at a reasonable angle. Many of the switchbacks are only ten paces long. At the switch backs I broke out the ski poles and started using them so my arms could help with the climbing a little. It did make a difference.
We found that we were constantly (every ten to twenty minutes) passing people going one way or the other by this point in the trip. I remember checking my pulse as I walked along and found it to be 160 even though I did not feel like I was laboring (altitude?). We found some snow and a little ice on the trail. Suddenly I was descending to the “Trail Crest” where Jimmy was waiting. He had on all his layers and there was a cool breeze blowing. We took a break here for another 15 minutes while I ate a snack and took a couple pictures. Near this point we could make out the rock house on the top of Whitney Peak. This is where I finally had to use the quart of water in my pack to refill one of my pint bottles.
From here the trail went to the back (west) side of the ridge that Whitney peak is part of. We could see down and over towards Kings Canyon and Sequoia Parks. There is a lake in this area that is called guitar lake because that is it’s shape. The trail descends somewhat and joins a trail coming up from the west. It is only 1.9 miles from here to the peak and I really knew at this point we were going to make it. I didn’t know how mentally tired I was until another hiker gave me a couple Jolly Rancher candies. Thirty seconds after putting one in my mouth I felt great. It was amazing how the sugar effected me.
As we got with in a mile of the peak, people who started before us were passing us headed the other way. They were all encouraging with words such as; “you’re almost there,” “keep going, one foot in front of the other”, etc. The trail passes several windows in the ridge through which you can see east towards the Owens Valley. At each window the breeze blows through.
Near the end of the hike, the trail goes directly up a long gradual slope of rocky debris and the Smithsonian Hut is in view again. Through this area I felt like I was walking fairly steady but fairly slow. We dumped our packs near a rock with a sign commemorating the building of the trail we hiked and I stopped the watch, 7 hours and 25 minutes. We congratulated ourselves, took pictures, signed the log book, and ate a large snack. I had the second half of a king sized snicker bar, an apple and a slice of bread.
After about 40 minutes on the top we started down again. Before we started I put on my ankle and knee braces (the stretchy reinforcement type). The trip down became a blur but we both remember discovering places we did not remember passing on the way up. We gave encouraging words to others still headed to the top. We passed the knuckle head who made jokes about my ski poles. He was still a mile or more from the top. At some point I let Jimmy have one of the ski poles. They became useful as we tried to hurry down the mountain without tripping or putting too much stress on our leg joints. It is worthy to note we both had several candy and or power bars in our packs at the end of the hike. I drank about three quarts of water over the course of the day and Jimmy drank two or a little more.
It took five hours to descend to the car. For some reason it seemed longer than the hike up. The last couple hours of the hike I repeatedly thought about the shower at the store and debated using it or just washing off in the campground. The store and shower were still open when we got down at about 6pm and there was no line. I paid three dollars for the shower and changed into fresh clothes. We had chief salads at a restaurant in Lone Pine and got ourselves home by 10 pm. On the way home I was thinking; "Who would do this more than once."
A week later I am thinking I might be willing to do it again next year. I have since learned of White Mountain. The peak is over 14,000 ft. You drive to 10,000 foot elevation and park the car at a gate. The hike is a couple miles shorter each way than Whitney. It is on the east side of the Owens Valley near Big Pine and the Bristlecone Pine Forest. The hike is not as popular as Whitney and no permits are required.
I am glad I took the ski poles and athletic supports for my joints. The cell phone was useless above Lone Pine Lake.
Last edited by Senior Boyd; 02/07/09 03:41 AM. Reason: error found.
