Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Family of 8 summits the MR

A dream came true for me this morning at 8:45 am. I stood on Mt. Whitney with my whole family, a trip we have planned for years. A once in a life time experience for sure.

9 year old twin boys, 13 year old boy, 16 year old boy, 11 year old girl and 18 year old girl + Mom and Dad.

Right before we started a couple at the portal said "those kids are never going to make it."

Camped at Lower Boy Scout Lake the 1st Night
Camped at Iceberg Lake last night.
Summited this morning and returned home.

Getting children up there takes perserverance and patience. And I even got checked for permits by a forest ranger....5 minutes up the Whitney trail.

That is simply awesome--a great family accomplishment, especially up the MR! Obviously good planning and lots of positive attitudes. You and your wife are to be commended for an excellent job encouraging and inspiring all those little ones of yours, maybe even the bigger ones, to keep on going... all the way to the top... and back down. Wow!

Glad to see you made it. We passed your group at LBSL late Sunday afternoon on our way down from W.
Looks like you took your time so the kids could make it. I'm sure they will never forget the trip.

Congratulation Kashcraft,
this is great accomplisment. I bet the kids are still excited.
Take care.
tomi

Excellent Kashcraft,
You and your family should be very proud of your accomplishment. It's one thing to do the MR by yourself but having a family in tow is something totally different.Good Job.
I'm still working on getting my wife past the first two miles of the main Shasta Trail!

Well Kashcraft family congratulations!! You will be our role-models. My 8 yr old son and 7 month old ASD dog will ONLY be hiking to Lone pine lake from Whitney Portal campground. Did any of you struggle with the altitude? My son has never been camping before but he is very excited. Does anyone know of other short hikes 6 miles RT for the day near Lone Pine Campground? We will be in the area for 2 nights. Thanks. JP

JP: as you know, altitude problems can strike anyone at anytime. They say children are more susceptible then adults.

To lessen the possibility of altitude sickness and increase our chances of making it we..... camped one night in the Alabama Hills (5000 feet), one night at LBSL (10300 feet) and one night at Iceberg Lake (12600 feet). This plan was intentional, hoping to avoid altitude sickness concerns. Two of my children had some difficulty with the altitude, although you never know how much is combination of altitude sickness, dedydration, fatigue and the rigors of the hike.

Certainly, you must go slower and have patience with them. Everything takes longer.

A nice hike is out of Tuttle creek campground to the church up the tuttle creek canyon. An interesting place and not too far. See http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000195

Hi Kashcraft! I just wanted to congratulate you and your family as I know you have been extremely helpful with my husband's planning, he will be most impressed! He and the gang are up there now and of course I am excited for him but anxious to hear from him. Great going and thanks again, you all really raised his comfort level and expectations.