Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Seeking historians on the MMWT

Hi folks,

This is a terrific forum, with terrific individuals who post here (too many to list!) I'm going to throw out a question that I'm sure can be answered.

My first trip to Whitney was back in June 1976. It was certainly a "different" time (I don't want to use any judgment of whether it was "better"), but this was before Wag bags, permits, lotteries, bear canisters, water filtration, and The Cables. My father, brother and I made the trip then. My father made it as far as the area were the cables are now - he turned around, not because he was fatigued, but because he felt unsure due to the ice at that area. (We had only two ice axes with us. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision, because when he got back to our tent, a couple of marmots were just about to ravage our packs). I was 18 and in good shape, but once I hit Trail Crest, I was severely winded by the altitude. I pretty much dragged myself to the summit on pure willpower; my brother stopped just short of the summit due to his own altitude sickness.

My brother and I returned to Whitney in September, in tribute to our father, who died in 2005. (We were completely shut out in the lottery in 2006, the 30th anniversary of our trip with our dad.) What I'm happy with is that we both made it to the top without any problems (so I guess turning 50 is not bad.) I'm also amazed at the power of memory. When we reached Trailside Meadow last September, I specifically recalled that afternoon 31 years ago, laying on that round flat rock, the one next to the stream before the switchbacks start again, to eat lunch. I remembered the wording on the sign at Trail Crest, on how pets and firearms were prohibited.

Here's what my brother and I were trying to remember. We were racking our brains trying to recall where exactly we camped the night before going up the 97 switchbacks. The current image of Trail Camp - where you walk up on the trail and suddenly see dozens of campsites - does not register in my recollections. My brother went through our family's old slides, and wouldn't you know, he found the shots of our 1976 trip! What does stick out are several photos of Consultation Lake (95% of which is covered by ice) taken close to the shore. I suspect that is where we camped.

So, this is my question: Did the main trail, as it approached the area below the switchbacks, previously go in the direction of the north edge of Consultation Lake? (Bob R, you probably have photos of that trail circa '76!)

Thanks for listening,
Emory

Can you by chance get any of those photos into a digital format? If you could I'm sure some people here could tell you where it is.

I had to set up a Flickr account. Try these photos below -the set is titled "Whitney June 1976". There's a photo of me, my dad and my brother. No laughing allowed at my hair! (It was 1976, after all. I'm now a professional, never seen without a tie at work.)

You'll see how Consultation Lake is covered with ice. I'm wondering if the trail led right past Consultation Lake back then, since there would have been no reason to have hiked from the current site of Trail Camp down to Consultation Lake.

My photos of Whitney trip June 1976

I didn't hike the trail back then, but I do remember that Consultation lake has been closed to camping since sometime "back then", due to overuse and degradation of the area. Seems possible that the trail did run over there back then. Others who have maps of the era will be able to tell for sure. Not sure when the current alignment of the "97 switchbacks" was made, but it may have been back then, as well.

My parents took me as a little boy on my first venture into the Sierras in July 1951, where I got to see the famous Fire Fall in Yosemite and take my first swim in the Merced River. It would be 21 years and many mountains later for me to set foot on Mt. Whitney. On June 18, 1972, I started my first trans-Sierra hike, beginning at the Whitney Portal. Later that morning I took a photo of the trail-sign pointing to Consultation Lake:



I recall taking one or two groups up the Whitney trail in 1976, and I would have to search out my slides.

Regardless, in 1972 the trail did not go directly to Consultation Lake. I still have my first 15-minute topo map (dated 1956) from my first Whitney hike. Although it is quite worn, tattered and all marked up, it shows the main Whitney trail in the same location above Consultation Lake as it is now. However, I don’t think the sign is there anymore, at least not the sign in my photo.

No, the trail did not go by Consultation Lake, as can be seen from a 1956 topo map. It is pretty much unchanged today, although there has been some minor rerouting, like in the area of Trail Camp itself.

What you probably did was to continue straight west (actually, WSW) from Trailside Meadow, instead of taking the hard right switchback right after the 5 mile marker. In June, there were undoubtedly a lot of tracks in the snow toward Consultation Lake that got your attention and you followed them. That is the natural route that people take in winter and spring, when snow covers the trail. And it is a shortcut route between Trailside Meadow and Trail Camp that many of us take in summer as well.

Several of your pictures are certainly on this route. The third one is about halfway between Consultation Lake and Trail Camp, in the afternoon so probably on the descent from the summit. The next one is almost to Trail Camp, also in the afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I knew I would not be disappointed with the folks on this board.

Bob R, you're probably correct about us getting off the original trail. I do recall heading up the switchbacks from Trailside Meadow. (Why do I remember this, 31 years later? Because the day before, we saw a guy hiking up with this very long and slender bag attached to his backpack. We were informed it was a hang glider, and that he was planning on taking off the summit. While we ate lunch on the rocks at Trailside Meadow, we saw him go past us and up the switchbacks. He didn't use the hang glider at the summit, due to high winds. A smart decision, IMHO.) The three of us probably lost the trail before Trail Camp and inadvertently hiked over to Consultation Lake. I do remember that no one camped near us.

Wayne - ah, the Firefalls. For those not old enough to recall, the Yosemite Rangers would build a fire at the top of Glacier Point and wait for the fire to burn down, leaving embers. Down in Curry Village, there would be a nighttime lecture/entertainment/educational gathering, then everyone was asked to be quiet. A Ranger would yell, "Hello, Glacier Point!" You could actually hear the reply from Glacier Point itself, a very faint "....Hello, Camp Curry!...." The reply would be, "Let the fire fall!" The embers would be pushed over, creating a spectacular sight. It was discontinued I think around 1968 or 69, because it was philosophically incorrect - an "unnatural" display. I agree, but it was indeed something to have seen. That was about the same time the fate of Yosemite's Mirror Lake was decided - that rather than filtering the sediment, the NPS decided to allow nature to take its course and let Mirror Lake turn into Mirror Meadow. Thanks for bringing that up.