After a great summit experience last year, I had planned on doing Whitney and Muir this year. As it turns out, I accomplished neither. Why? Read on.
1) On July 4th, I got a bad case of bruised ribs playing basketball. That effectively ended my training a month early, just when I probably needed it the most. Lesson: accidents happen.
2) On July 30th, the day before leaving Maryland, I caught a stomach bug that put me down all day, and of course, left me dehydrated at the absolute worst time. Lesson: Murphy's law. Nothing you can do about this.
3) Work commitments prevented me from leaving until the 31st of July, with my permit good for 1-3 August, so I really had not time for acclimitizing. Lesson: forget ginko biloba, aspirin, and all the other drugs. There is no substitute for proper acclimitization, but that can be difficult if you live on the East Coast. (Last year, we did the same thing, and with one night at Lone Pine campground, we had no problems getting to Trail Camp on the first day, and up to the summit the next morning.)
4) Rained and hailed at the portal campground the night of the 31st, so I ended up sleeping in my rental car (quite uncomfortable, and coupled with having to get up at 3:00 AM to catch a flight from Baltimore to LA, left me feeling quite tired on the 1st as I started hiking). Lesson: forget to 0700 flight! With the time difference, I could have left a few hours later and still gotten to the ranger station that afternoon.
5) I went alone this year, as my wife and neighbor could not get away from work. That meant I had to carry everything myself (tent, filter, stove, gas, food, bear canister). Lesson: go with someone else and share the load!
6) Started raining about 0945 on the 1st, just after getting to Outpost Camp. Looked worse higher up, so I decdided just to pitch my tent at Outpost and get up early on the 2nd. As it turns out, the morning of the second was cloudy, and I did not have a headlamp (never anticipated hiking in the dark!), so I didn't leave Outpost till 0600. Got to Trail Camp at about 0800. Ate, rested, filled up with 4 liters of water and hit the switchbacks at 0830. Got to trail crest about 1030, and the weather looked like it was going to be terrible. Cold, windy, lots of clouds building up. Decided I didn't want to proceed alone, so turned back at the JMT trail junction and headed back to Outpost.
7) Had a nice, relaxing evening at Outpost, and headed back to the portal the next morning. Enjoyed spending some time with Doug, Doug, and Earlene talking about this board, cell phones, rescues, and other odds and ends. Great people!
8) All in all, still a very enjoyable experience. Slept much better at Outpost this year than I did at Trail Camp last year. Was over to the left by the waterfall - drowned out all the noise, and actually helped me fall asleep! I still think that the Outpost/Bighorn Park section is the most beautiful section of the trail. Also, met lots of great people, some of whom summited, and some, like me, who didn't.
9) I'll be back next year! Probably will try the MR!
