Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Sleeping under the stars?

We have an overnight permit for Mt. Whitney, and plan to spend the night at Trail Camp. I am not sure if I want to increase my pack load by carrying a tent with me, so was wondering if it is advisible to sleep under the stars with just a sleeping bag (rated to 20 F) and a therm-a-rest? I will take a tarp along in case of rain.

This is our first time to Whitney, and we have been preparing for it for the past few months. I must say, the advice and insight provided by all of you has been of tremendous help in this journey.

Rgds!

I have slept under the stars multiple times up at and near Iceberg lake (on the MR). It is about the same elevation as trail camp. If the weather is good it is no problem. If it rains you will wish you had a tent. A tarp is lighter then a tent but not as light as a 9 X 12 foot piece of plastic, in case of rain. A little thicker then the .3ml stuff which tears to easy.

Turns out you have plenty to carry, even if you leave your tent at home. If it is raining or bad weather a tent will be your friend and you would regret leaving it at home. Otherwise it is kind of nice to sleep out up under the stars. You get to wake up and look at the stars or the moon coming up. You notice the wind a little more and your face might feel cooler, since the wind is breazy on your face. It might seem quieter without a tent. The wind tends to make a lot of noise as if blows hard on a tent, making it harder to sleep.

if you're used to rigging up a tarp and are creative enough to be able to do it above treeline, that should be fine. you might want to play with some tarp setups other than the traditional a-frame. Sgt. Rock has some examples on his site: http://hikinghq.net/gear/tarp.html

I recently bought an Integral Designs SilTarp. 5' x 8' and only 7 oz. Packed, it's about the size of a can of beer. Expensive, though: $60.

I anticipate replacing my regular 3.5 oz. Emergency Mylar bivy with it. Besides the rain protection, it provides nice shade for reading and relaxing after the day's efforts.

I took it for the first time last weekend, and by the third time I set it up I was getting pretty good at it. Used six 2 mm guy cords: four 4' long and two 6'. Nice thing is, it puts my hiking poles to good use for the evening. By adjusting the poles' lengths, you get quite a few options in shape.

<img src="http://www.ridgenet.net/~rockwell/tarp.jpg"width=720>

Tarbubble brings up a good point. Up at trail camp there are no trees and not that many big rocks close enough to tie your tarp onto. Might have to be creative or just cover your bag up with emergency plastic if it starts raining. Take someone along and make them carry half the supplies, lightening your actual load. That way you would have room for the tent.

I have to go along with GoneHiking, when I go if someone is going with me who does not have a tent, and they want to share well they get the stakes and poles. Its only fair they carry there load.

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions and patience in answering a repeat question! After I posted, did a search and found a number of similar posts. I really appreciate your time.

I am hiking Whitney the first weekend in August. I will definitely post my experience and summary.

Thanks a ton.
Rgds