Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Full Moon summit planned for 8/28

My buddy and I plan on hitting the trai around 1 a.m. on 8/28. Questions:

1. We are camping two days before at Onion Valley campground. How far of a drive is it to Whitney portal ?

2. Has anyone ever done a full moon hike in the middle of the night ? We have headlamps, do you think we will use them.

3. I plan on carrying 110 oz of water. Is that enough ?

http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw--#mvt=m&q2=whitney+portal%2C+ca&q1=36.772769%2C-118.340157&trf=0&lon=-118.282585&lat=36.680535&mag=7
Its 40.6 miles from Onion Valley Campground to Whitney Portal and the estimated travel time is 1:09, according to Yahoo Maps.

Enjoy your trip.

I have done two moonlight summits - once on MT and once on MR - they are fun. some areas you do not need headlights and others you will - especially in tree covered areas. but if you are familiar with the trail you should have no problem route finding.

if 110oz is not enough water - take more along the way - it's free and it's easy.

enjoy the trip

The Google mileage and time sound about right.

Once the moon is up your need for a headlight diminishes; however, if you are in one of the heavily forested areas you may want it on. Also, if this is your first time on the trail above Mirror Lake I'd have the light through this section because the trail does get a bit ambiguous.

Never carry more than 2 L of water between the Portal and Trail Camp. To only time you need to carry more is for the Trail Camp to the summit section.

Ok WBtravis. So your saying, fill up my 70 oz camelbak with water and that will get me from the start to trail camp and then get water on the switchbacks to take to the top and then get water on the way down at the same place ? Will it be frozen on the way up. Thanks for all your replies !!

There will be a total lunar eclipse taking place in the early morning on August 28, 2007. You may want to suspend your hike during the eclipse and check it out.

Here is a link to more details: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/03aug_dreamyeclipse.htm

The water on the switchbacks could be frozen but the water at Trailside Meadow and the Trail Camp pond won't be. They weren't in May, so there is nothing to make me believe they will be in August.

The more weight you carry the most tired you will be at the end of the day; therefore, cut the water you carry back to about 2 L. Starting at that time it will get you to at least Trailside Meadow.

With regards to your second question: We hiked the main trail on August 1, just after the full moon, leaving the Portal at midnight. It was our first time up this trail, and although we could almost hike without headlamps, we opted to use ours on their lowest settings. We never felt in any danger of losing the trail, but we did pause briefly a few times between Outpost Camp and Trail Camp to ascertain the route.

If you haven't hiked at night before, be aware that you will be more focused on your feet and the trail than you would be in daylight, and even with a full moon your surroundings will be far less visible. Believe it or not, we were almost through Trail Camp before one of us happened to spot a tent and we realized where we were. I had hoped to fill our water bottles from the inlet of the pond as recommended by Bob R on this board, but in the dark, we couldn't get a good sense of the layout of the area, so we just headed off the trail in the general direction of what we thought was the pond, until we heard, and then saw, running water. On the our way down from the summit (in daylight) I realized that we had almost passed through Trail Camp before we cut over to the pond, and we ended up getting our water very close to the inlet like I wanted, but that was simply dumb luck.

Thanks guys ! Great info. I did not realize that there was a lunar eclipse. Wow ! I'm looking forward to our first summit.

Don't expect much direct moonshine early in your trip, due to the Irvine ridge on the south side of the canyon. There will still be a lot of light, however (barring cloud cover, or smoke from Zaca or ...). Here is a table of angular positions of the moon for your hike.

For example, at 1:30 the moon is 37 degrees above the horizon at an azimuth of 211.2 degrees.

This from the US Naval Observatory

-----

LONE PINE, CALIFORNIA
o , o ,
W118 04, N36 36

Altitude and Azimuth of the Moon
Aug 28, 2007
Pacific Standard Time

Altitude Azimuth Fraction
(E of N) Illuminated

h m o o
00:00 42.0 183.8 1.00
00:10 41.8 187.0 1.00
00:20 41.6 190.2 1.00
00:30 41.2 193.4 1.00
00:40 40.8 196.5 1.00
00:50 40.2 199.6 1.00
01:00 39.5 202.6 1.00
01:10 38.8 205.5 1.00
01:20 37.9 208.4 1.00
01:30 37.0 211.2 1.00
01:40 36.0 213.9 1.00
01:50 34.9 216.5 1.00
02:00 33.7 219.0 1.00
02:10 32.5 221.5 1.00
02:20 31.2 223.9 1.00
02:30 29.9 226.2 1.00
02:40 28.5 228.4 1.00
02:50 27.0 230.6 1.00
03:00 25.5 232.7 1.00
03:10 24.0 234.7 1.00
03:20 22.4 236.7 1.00
03:30 20.8 238.6 1.00
03:40 19.1 240.4 1.00
03:50 17.5 242.2 1.00
04:00 15.8 244.0 1.00
04:10 14.0 245.7 1.00
04:20 12.3 247.4 1.00
04:30 10.5 249.0 1.00
04:40 8.8 250.6 1.00
04:50 7.0 252.2 1.00
05:00 5.2 253.7 1.00
05:10 3.4 255.2 1.00
05:20 1.6 256.7 1.00
05:30 0.0 258.2 1.00

My son and I will be walking up on the 28th. Hope to see you. They say we won't be in Kansas anymore!

Tom, Hopefully we will see you on the trail. I'll have two green treking poles in my hand with a green aussie hat on. Will be with my buddy. What time are you leaving to hike ? good luck !