Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board 112 in Ridgecrest

I think that would be a great day to hike Whitney, I bought this book and it said some very stupid things about expect to come down in a snow storm and in the dark . How could that be? It talked about a temperature drop of 43 degrees in one hour ,bears and all sorts of nonsense stuff that you don't find in the park, and then it went on and on about rescues and how it all takes a long time and you know stuff like that was just filler, the book has good pictures but I think they are fake just to scare people into leaving extra food at home or is a joke on the people that try to fit a pickup load into the bear box, did I mention the rescue thing? Oh the book said sometimes people die on the mountain , must be drive by shooting or something again how could that be? Maybe I will write a book someday ( after I figure it all out and get some good pictures) maybe call the book the real mountain lore from the cooks world. Thanks Doug

Aren't you glad you're cookin' at the Portal and not bakin' in Ridgecrest?

It was 109 here in Fresburg today.

112 with humidity - arrgghhhh
think I am gonna go on some kinda hike that involves a portal burger - see ya manana.

It was downright cold at the Portal, for this time of year, as I headed home last night. Unfortunately, the cooler temps didn't extend too far south. Hot and muggy aren't much fun. Maybe I should have stayed in the mountains.

I don't envy you for what some of the visitor's to Whitney put you through! (Speaking in terms of that "rescue" that someone was demanding occur on Friday night. It seems as if everything worked it self out and nobody needed a rescue.)

i got towed from 3/4 of the way up Horseshoe Meadows down to Ridgecrest yesterday. Dropped my car off and walked/skated through town on that heat.

Made it out to 395 and cooked until I caught a ride to Riverside.
Another 10 ish miles of walking and skating from on-ramp to on-ramp. Passed a u-haul. Would have 120 bucks to rent it one way home. Should of done it.

By 9pm I gave up and hired a cab for 150. Was home sipping beer by 10:15.

I saw your vehicle being loaded up on the tow truck as I was driving up the hill about noonish on Saturday. We took a short hike up to the Cottonwood Lakes.

Richard - you should have stayed at the Portals. The weather today was fantastic. BTW - ask SG what his time was - I think he beat his time from 2 weeks ago by 35 minutes.

Guess where I was on Sunday:



I think I saw your truck heading up to the Portal as I was heading down on Saturday.

Congrats to Jim on a new PR! 35 minutes is a real nice reduction in time!

Judging by the signatures - I would say you went to Siretta.
Did you go over Siretta Pass or just bag the peak.

You are correct!

It was such a sweatfest that I didn't even want to do the peak. T-storm activity overhead dropped some rain that made the walk out a lot more tolerable. I got dumped on quite a bit on the ride out thru Kernville and Isabella, but was bone-dry long before I was back in Ridgecrest. Funny how you don't mind rain when it's so HOT! (105 (6:00pm) in Isabella when I stopped to cool off in AC'd building.)

How's the cairn on Siretta? Has it made it to 10,000'?

LOL! I'd have thought Steve L would have knocked it down by now.

I have seen a few bigger summit cairns though.