After much thrashing of hard drives, I've finally finished stitching and have posted my panoramas from this year's dayhike at:
http://dbdimages.smugmug.com/gallery/3546865/1/201108811Please feel free to view and comment.
This was my 32nd annual dayhike and my 38th time up Whitney. There were three of us this year. We made good time to Trail Camp. Then we dropped behind our usual pace. We had good weather and could afford to take our time.
This year the pond at Trail Camp was the lowest I can recall seeing it. Warm water because of the low water level and low stream flow produced more algae than usual and more critters eating it and more critters eating them. Ouzels have always been present, solitary and scattered along the steams in the Lone Pine Creek drainage, but this year there were several gathered feeding in the pond. There was also a flock of water pipets feeding on invertebrates where the water was shallow enough for them to wade (which it seldom is).
The weather was nice but the air was not clear enough for good long range viewing.
Coming down toward Mirror Lake in the dark, I could see light moving on the trail below us. Just below Bighorn Park we found a hiker laying on the trail next to his pack, staff and darkened flashlight. After a moment we received a response that his flashlight batteries had died and he was trying to find the zipper to get his next flashlight out. We provided light for him and his second light had good batteries. We slowed our pace to what our fellow hiker could keep up with. When we paused to drink some water and adjust clothing he felt impelled to continue on without pausing. We soon caught up and stayed with him the rest of the way down. At the north fork crossing he just waded into the water. We showed him the stepping stones and kept him on the trail the rest of the way down. A few minutes later, he drove up, the wrong way on the one way loop and asked how to get out of there. I suggested that as he was pointed down and there was no traffic he should simply exit as he was pointed. I hope he made it.
In the end it was my second slowest dayhike time. My only slower time was in the genteel days of the last century when, on a snowy trailed June afternoon we stopped and had tea with a wilderness nanny (we had met along the trail) while we waited for the snow to harden enough so that we could travel on top with crampons instead of post-holing. We saw the sunrise from up high and got back down before the post-holing got bad.
Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.comSierra Crest 2008 Calender:
http://www.lulu.com/content/1167331 
