Mt Whitney

[Ted]

This is more of a trip report for a hike than a road trip, but I included photos of the camper to make it proper for this site. Highway 395 is definitely Wander the West territory - saw four Four Wheel Camper/All Terrain campers on the drive home.
Anyway, each year we have a "Guys" trip and this year it was to summit Mt Whitney. Left late Friday morning with no campground reservations for that night so had to wing it. Found a nice spot in Gray's Meadow campground (first photo) just outside of Independence. Easy fishing in the creek just 10 feet from our picnic table. Next morning picked up our permits at the ranger station in Lone Pine and headed towards the trail head, stopping in the Alabama Hills to look at our destination (second photo - Whitney is the peak in the upper right). Settled in at Whitney Portal campground Saturday night. FYI, sites here are not very level as evidenced by the third photo.

 

[Ted]

Whitney trip continued

Headed out Sunday morning, hitting the trail about 10:00 am (first photo). Instead of staying at Trail Camp with the throngs of other hikers, decided to make base camp at Consultation Lake. Good choice! Got a great site (second photo) protected from the wind on three sides and had some fun fishing the afternoon away. Somewhere along the way got the crazy idea to hike up to the summit by the light of the full moon and catch the sunrise. Though we succeeded (third photo, yours truly in red), we went about 40 hours without sleep and dealt with extreme cold while on the ridge and summit. In hind sight, may not have been the best idea. We were so tired, the hike down took almost as long as it did to go up. Celebrated with a steak dinner and a good bottle of red and fell asleep not long after.
Heading back to the area with the better half over Labor day weekend to check out some missed areas and just enjoy the beauty of the eastern Sierras. Maybe we will see some of you out there.
Ted

 

[Tomas Tierra]

SummiTED Whitney

Way to go Ted! Beutiful shots and great write up

Thank You.

 

[chnlisle]

Nice Pix!! Great scramble.

 

[SunMan]

Loved it, been wanting to do that for years. Nice pics.

 

[pvstoy]

Way to go Ted!

Congratulations Ted and group.

Glad you had a good time and thanks for the pictures.

Last year we did a 9 day pack trip around Mt. Whitney with some of the nearby peaks. This Labor Day - 9 Day trip is up out of Bishop area. Then right after that we are going to take our friend that is turning 71 up Whitney on Sept. 13-15.

And by the way, Lone Pine Peak the one to the far left in your Whitney picture has some great views from the top.

 

[pvstoy]

Loved it, been wanting to do that for years. Nice pics.


Get a permit for the 13th I'll guide you up

 

[SunMan]

Get a permit for the 13th I'll guide you up

Hmmmm...tempting, but I'll likely be busy cleaning the moondust out of my rig after a week in Baja the week prior!

 

[craig333]

Wonder if I could still do a trip like that. Did get a nice pair of hiking poles for christmas.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Hmmmm...tempting, but I'll likely be busy cleaning the moondust out of my rig after a week in Baja the week prior!

Might not be so dusty Amigo....Watching the weather, it might be more like rinsing off the moon mud..Tropical storm Juli-uh-o is trouncing the peninsula at the moment..Should make for an interesting trip!

Good luck! Report back please.

TT

 

[DLN]

Ted,

Great trip report and photos, congrats to you and the team.

 

[Ted]

Just do it.

Thanks for the kudos, folks.

Patrick, you must hike 100 miles to my 1. Enjoyed your trip report about a short weekend and two peaks. That would be a long week for me. Took into consideration your advice about the water at Trail Camp when deciding to camp at Consultation Lake instead. We are heading to the area over Labor Day weekend also - I'll look for your truck. Planning on camping on the Little walker River Friday and somewhere around Independence Creek or Alabama Hills Saturday and Sunday.

Sunman, you should do this hike. Most difficult part is getting a permit. We submitted three dates and got rejected on all of them. Fortunately, we were able to get a permit from a coworker that submitted two applications just in case and ended up getting both.

Craig, if you are wondering if you can do it, you are already on your way. Last spring I decided I wanted to hike Half Dome before I "wouldn't be able to anymore". I was 46 and carrying a lot of cold malt beverages and fermented grape juice around with me. Two months of trying to get in shape and I made the summit but took three weeks to recover. Continued conditioning for this trip for a year. It was still a tough hike but recovered in a day. Start planning now for next year, it is a great motivator.

Hope to see you all on the road.