Highs and Lows

First the Highs....After weeks of training hikes: Naomi, Little Superior, Mt. Wolverine, Mt. Raymond,  Snowbird and a few others plus running and biking I was about to cross something off my bucket list.....Mount Whitney. When Jon told me he and his buddies had hiked it several years ago, I whined that I wanted to do it too and he said, "Okay." It is the highest peak in the lower 48 states. I've seen a couple different postings for the exact elevation and am not sure which one is right but roughly it sits around 14, 500 feet.

July 27 we loaded the car with me, Jon, Karen, Wayne and Amanda and drove to Lone Pine, CA. We picked up our permit and were required to rent "bear canisters" (which are really for marmots) and were issued "wag bags" as you are required to carry out your own waste. We went to the Factory Pizzeria to carbo load and get extra pizza to eat on the top. There is just something about cold pizza on the top of a mountain that is so delicious. The weather was perfect. We could see Mt. Whitney in the distance. It is amid a strange looking band of pointed granite peaks and hard to believe there would be room to stand on top of one of them.

 28-Jon dropped us off at the trailhead and we weighed our packs.

Karen and I had the lightest at 25 pounds. Amanda's was over 30. I offered to take the stove out of her pack but she kept saying she was okay. I didn't feel quite so sorry for her when I watched her unpack her stuff which included a hard bound book! She is such a student! Jon had to walk about a mile to park the car as it is a very popular trail. We started hiking around 7 a.m. and got to the Portal Camp around 11:30. The trail to the camp was 6 miles and really beautiful, well marked and nice. Once we got above tree line everything was granite but the trail was really well maintained and made it an easy climb. There were a few tents strewn about amid the rocks and a small fresh water lake where we could pump water. We sat around, walked around the lake and basically just killed time until we could eat and go to bed. Our new little $20 backpacking stove worked great and boiled the water really fast. We were in our tents by about 8:00 p.m. Jon got up a few times in the night but I think he really just wanted to gaze at the full moon (and probably a few others :) I was too cold to get out of my bag but the others all agreed that it never really did get dark.

Looking at Mnt Whitney from camp

July 29-Our stove took a little longer this morning. We learned that the fuel gets cold but if you put your hands around around the cannister it will heat right up again. It was a beautiful morning and we were eager and very excited to get going. We started hiking the remaining 5 miles around 6:30 a.m. The trail climbed out of camp and up 99 switchbacks which cut up over scree fields. It would have been a very tough climb without the great trail. We counted the switchbacks and at each corner the leader would wait for everyone to pass then move to the back. This way it allowed the front person to catch their breath. Wayne, Karen and I were on Diamox to prevent altitude sickness but Jon and Amanda seemed to do just fine. There were lots of people on the trail.

Me and Karen on great lookout. One push is all it would take.

 We summited around 10:30 a.m. What a great feeling. There were so many people on the top so it wasn't hard to find somebody to take a photo. We did get some jealous looks as we pulled out our cold pizza. I had expected it to be cold and windy on top but it was probably around 60 degrees and clear. There is a small rock building on top and a book to sign. We all felt really good and stayed on top for about 30 minutes before starting down.

Jon and Amanda enjoying the traditional "top of the mountain chocolate reward"

On the way down I noticed something about my vision that was very peculiar. As I would focus on a person's face that I passed there was an emerald green spot nearly the size of their face. At first I thought the person looked sick but then everybody looked green and then I noticed that wherever I looked the green spot was there. It only lasted maybe an hour then suddenly went away. We made it back to camp at 1:30 and took a little rest. Jon and I were laying on a rock. Suddenly I felt something bike my tall finger on the left hand. I yelled out thinking Jon was teasing me but we decided it must have been one of the many little critters running around. It didn't break the skin but kinda hurt.

We packed up our tents and hit the trail again at 2:30 to hike the 6 miles out. It was a lot of fun and we passed a lot of people coming up the trail. About an hour before the end of the hike I started getting stomach cramps every time I would take a drink and felt like I was going to have some problems I wouldn't want to have especially where you have no bathroom and have to pack your poop. The last part of the trail it seemed like we got faster and faster. It reminded me of when you are horse back riding and the horse wants to run faster as it get closer to the pasture. I was very glad to see the outhouse come into view. Jon and I went to get the car. When we got back to the motel to clean up for dinner I wasn't feeling very good. I should have stayed in the motel but I had looked so forward to the big celebratory dinner after our great accomplishment and I didn't want to miss out so I went with the group to a Mexican restaurant where I threw-up my "Luna" bar and had other unmentionable problems. It was a big disappointment to me but the good news was that I felt fine by the next morning.

Amanda at Scotty's castle

The numbers rose to 119 right after this picture.

July 30-We slept in (til 7), had a great breakfast at the grill across the street then headed for Death Valley. This is where the "Low" part of the story comes in. It happened to be the "Madwater" run where over 100 insane people run from Madwater (middle of death valley-in July) uphill 136 miles to the Mt. Whitney trailhead. I can't even fathom it. I didn't think that was even humanly possible!  I made Jon open the sun roof so Karen, Amanda and I could stick our heads out and cheer them on. We visited "Scotty's Castle." It is a large home build in the 1920's and has quite a story to go along with it. Then we drove to the "Lowest" elevation point in the lower 48 states at Badwater. There wasn't much there except people who seemed very interested in walking out onto a section of the land that is so completely desolate in the 119 degree heat. Karen and I loved it of course. I think Jon was quite relieved to get his car and occupants to a more tolerable temperature. We spent the night in St. George then arrived home around noon the next day. It was a really wonderful trip!

Amanda, Karen & Me--Glad we got to do this before we get any older!