Day 54, June 10: Mt. Whitney! / to Mile 771
Start: Crabtree Meadows - Mile 767.0
End: Mile 771.2
Miles: 4.2 (Total incl. Whitney: 20.4)
Ascent: 1294 (Total incl. Whitney: 5023) | Descent: 826
What an epic day!!
I woke to my alarm at 3am. The day’s objective was to summit Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous US at 14,505’. Many hikers started at midnight to make it to the summit for sunrise, but I decided I wanted to sleep a little more and actually enjoy the climb.
Still, I was tired and moving slowly once I finally got going around 3:40am. I was hiking with my headlamp, not knowing what my surroundings looked like. There were a few hikers starting around the same time, and soon I caught up to and passed Choo Choo, Osita and Teddy Bear. Popeye also passed me.
The outline of the mountain in the distance was ever so slightly illuminated from the lights of Lone Pine on the other side. It was so cool to see the string of hikers’ headlamps ascending the switchbacks. A few times, I was able to turn off my headlamp and marvel at the Milky Way above.
I was definitely feeling tired, but excited at the prospect of summitting Whitney, which I’ve always wanted to do and have never done! The sky was barely starting to lighten when I came to the aptly named Guitar Lake. I quickly filtered some water and continued on.
The bottom of the climb felt tough, but I soon found my groove and was really enjoying the ascent, especially with my lighter, essentials-only backpack. I had left most of my gear at camp as most people do, so I felt almost weightless on the climb up.
The sky continued to lighten and I soaked in the beauty of my surroundings. It’s hard to describe or even fully take in how expansive and gorgeous the Sierras are, but I kept thinking about how John Muir described them as “the range of light.” That seemed especially fitting this morning.
I continued cruising and made it to the summit before I knew it. I did it!! I made it to the highest summit in the lower 48! I was yelling with joy. A few hikers I knew were up there, and lo and behold, a hula hoop!! I don’t know who brought it but I’m glad they did. I did some celebratory hooping, took photos, and enjoyed the beautiful 360° view around us.
Other hikers started to show up including Squirrel Daddy, Popeye and the Germans. We all chatted and ate some snacks while we hung out. I also had a bit of cell service up there so I was able to send my family a picture of my summit hula hooping.
After an hour and a half or so, I finally tore myself away from the glory of the summit and started my descent. Once I got past the super rocky upper stretch, I started running downhill a bit. It felt so good and so free to be doing what I love to do- flying down technical terrain while enjoying the beauty of the mountains. I felt completely in a flow state.
Once I got down off the switchbacks, the terrain eased up and I switched from running to hiking. It might have been the running, or the combination of that, the early morning, and the elevation, but soon a wave of exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks. It felt like all I could do to stay upright. So I just focused on one foot in front of the other to make it back to camp.
Once I got to camp, I crawled inside my tent for a nice 2ish hour nap. I felt much better after and lazily packed up camp, filtered water, soaked my feet in the creek nearby, and finally headed out. We only planned to do another 4-5 miles so that we could even out mileage for the remaining days.
On the hike out, I was enjoying the scenery when I started to smell smoke. Uh oh. I looked around and couldn’t see too much haze, but it filled the sky soon enough. It was making me extremely nervous, but thankfully I heard from Popeye later (who had texted her fiancé to get info on the fire) that it was only a prescribed burn. Thank goodness!
Popeye, Squirrel Daddy and I camped near a creek, which made for pleasant background noise but made the mosquito situation awful at camp. I bundled up in layers, a bug headnet and bug spray to eat my dinner. I brushed my teeth and finished up outside my tent as quickly as possible so I could crawl inside where the little monsters couldn’t get to me. Night!