Hike to Mt Whitney
Hike to Mt Whitney (Oct 3 - Oct 6, 2018)
Mt Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States (14,500 feet). Alaska has taller mountains. As part of my journey, I decided to do the hike (at least try). Before this, the highest mountain I had hiked was Glacier point (Yosemite National Park). I did it in my late 20's and it is only 7,200 feet high. Now I am in my 50's and so the challenge is quite on a different scale. Mt. Whitney trail is 22 miles but steep gradient and less of oxygen and the times it takes makes it extremely challenging. It takes anywhere from 16-24 hrs for the hike.
Preparation: I joined a small hiking group (all newbies) and started hiking in Bay Area (San Jose, CA). I did few 20+ miles hike in 8-9 hrs climbing only 2,800 ft. I had prepared as best as I can but looking back, I did not prepared very well on two areas; a) Hiking with good enough back pack weight. I had only hiked around with 10 lbs at the most and b) Elevation. After 10k, less of oxygen makes it hard (there are no mountains greater than 10k nearby).
Before we go any further, I did not make it to Mt. Whitney. I made it to Trail Crest (13, 800 feet). It was so close :-( After Trail Crest, rest of the 1.9 miles (slightly easier hike) was snowed out with black ice. It was a very narrow path (felt like one of the scenes from Lord of Rings movie) and so decided not to risk it as I have never hiked with snow crampons before. 95% of hikers turned back (like us). Few tried to but returned back half way. Only few expert hikers made it to the top. I did not made it to the top of Mt. Whitney but it was an amazing experience. I experienced many interesting things beside hiking during this trip.
Getting Ready: The hiking group started with 10 people but ultimately only two of us signed up for the final hike.
Day 1: Drive to Lone Pine (CA). It took us 6.5 hrs. We went to the Ranger's office and got the permit. The ranger gave us the wag (poop) bag. We checked into the Whitney Hostel. After that, we decided to go to the Mt. Whitney trail head. Before that we saw the Alabama Hills (they used to shoot western moves there in 1940's). It has a nice rock formations.
Hostel: The room had 5 bunk beds and one bathroom. I would say it was one of the interesting experience I had beside hiking. I met two friends in their 20's who were hiking the PCT ("Pacific Trail") from Vancouver to Mexico from. It is a 6+ months journey - they had started from July 2nd. Met a French person who was biking from Vancouver to Las Vegas. Another person from Florida was going around the country in motorbike for the last 9 months. Another one was an expert mountain climber who has done few 14k feet hikes. Met a person who was hiking to Nevada sprinkling his father's ashes along the way. Each one had a different story and each story was unique and so amazing. It was an amazing experience talking to these folks even though you can hardly sleep with snoring and outside noise in that hotel.
We went to pizza for dinner with the two young friends who were doing PCT hikes and another French young men who was doing a hiking/running across death valley.
Day 2: We took it easy in the morning, got some work done. We grabbed sandwiches and did a small (6 mile hike) to get used to the elevation. We hiked to 9,700 feet and came back around 5 pm. We went for dinner (had pasta for carbs). Packed almost 6 liters of water, snack, grapes, PBJ sandwich, first aid, wag bag, poncho, etc (and so much more). After doing the final packing, we went to bed at 8 pm hoping to get few hours of sleep before the hike. You can hardly sleep.
Day 3 - Hiking Day: Woke up at 12:30 am - after few hrs of disturbed sleep.
Got ready and headed to the trail. It was pitch dark. We started hiking at 1:40 AM. We had lights but it was dark and cold. For the next 5 hrs, it was hiking in the
dark one step at a time. Sometimes the roads were not clear and we had to make sure we are
on the right track. It is very easy to get lost in dark and end up in
the wrong trail. Only few weeks ago someone got nauseated and went to the wrong trail, fell down and died.
We had over packed by lot. My bag-pack was probably close to 30 lbs and after 1 hr the shoulders was already aching. This slowed us quite a bit.
The sunrise was beautiful. We reached trail camp around 9:30 am. It was
only 6 miles from the trail head but we had climbed 4000 feet and at
12,000 feet the elevation, the lack of oxygen and weight of the back pack
was slowly hitting us. We stopped at trail camp for 10 min to enjoy the small lake.
The next hike is to Trail Crest (13,800 feet) but to go there is the hardest climb. It has 99 switch backs. When you see it looks like a straight mountain face going back and forth.
My legs were fine but I was already feeling a bit tired due to lack of oxygen and weight but we have to march along. Mental strength to keep moving to the next step is the biggest challenge and training helps a lot here.
The "99" switch-backs were hard. Initially, we used to stop every 300
feet initially but slowly it came to 200, 100, 50 and then finally 25 feet to
take breather or drink some water or grab a snack. There was snow and ice
and it made it quite difficult. I almost slipped twice (close call) and so I became
more careful. It took almost 2 hrs to climb the 1.8 miles to the top of
Trail Crest.
We reached at 11:50 am after 10 hrs of climb. It was an awesome view at 13,800 feet. Unfortunately heavy snow two days before made it dangerous for the final stretch of 1.9 miles (900 feet climb) to the top of Mt. Whitney. One of the hostel mates, who was an expert hiker said he tried but found it too dangerous because of black ice and the path is narrow. So, we decided to not to go forward. One expert hiker had forgotten his crampons. So, I gave mine for him to try. He later thanked me (he made it to the top) and said he will send a bottle for wine. I am glad he did it!
After staying for 45 min at the top, we started hiking down. The "99" switchbacks felt like never ending. We stayed at the trail camp, ate the PBJ sandwich and started hiking back again. It became dark when we reach Lone Pine Lake. We hiked down the last 2.5 miles in dark and at the bottom around 8:15 pm. The last 2+ hrs of hiking felt like never ending ... In total it was a 18+ hr hike.
We had a good dinner, took shower, took some pain killer and hit the bed. There were 8 people on that room with different snoring frequencies.
Even if we did not made it to the top, it was an amazing experience. The experience of mountain is beyond anything. No other thoughts came to mind except the nature and keep moving the foot one step at a time. That is close to meditation.
Day 4: Head back home. My hiking partner felt sick and so we stayed in between for him to take rest. I had no issues - no tiredness. I told my wife I am ready for a small hike tomorrow and she said "you are crazy" [ I did not do the hike on Sunday but a 3+ mile walk with my neighbor].
Each of us will have different experiences. For me, it was just amazing; meeting different people and hearing about the stories, the silence of darkness, the sunrise, the mountain top, the process of pushing forward one step at a time, it has helped me to understand a bit of myself and marvel about the nature an The few min of mediation at the top was my gratitude to the mountain for allowing me to get closer. I needed its blessing without that we would not have made it.
----
Note: This is my last blog in the current site (Google is not going to good job on the current blogging site). I will move to a new blogging site or may not blog anymore ...
----
Thank you all for your support. Wishing you all the best of your journeys!!!
Mt Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States (14,500 feet). Alaska has taller mountains. As part of my journey, I decided to do the hike (at least try). Before this, the highest mountain I had hiked was Glacier point (Yosemite National Park). I did it in my late 20's and it is only 7,200 feet high. Now I am in my 50's and so the challenge is quite on a different scale. Mt. Whitney trail is 22 miles but steep gradient and less of oxygen and the times it takes makes it extremely challenging. It takes anywhere from 16-24 hrs for the hike.
Preparation: I joined a small hiking group (all newbies) and started hiking in Bay Area (San Jose, CA). I did few 20+ miles hike in 8-9 hrs climbing only 2,800 ft. I had prepared as best as I can but looking back, I did not prepared very well on two areas; a) Hiking with good enough back pack weight. I had only hiked around with 10 lbs at the most and b) Elevation. After 10k, less of oxygen makes it hard (there are no mountains greater than 10k nearby).
Before we go any further, I did not make it to Mt. Whitney. I made it to Trail Crest (13, 800 feet). It was so close :-( After Trail Crest, rest of the 1.9 miles (slightly easier hike) was snowed out with black ice. It was a very narrow path (felt like one of the scenes from Lord of Rings movie) and so decided not to risk it as I have never hiked with snow crampons before. 95% of hikers turned back (like us). Few tried to but returned back half way. Only few expert hikers made it to the top. I did not made it to the top of Mt. Whitney but it was an amazing experience. I experienced many interesting things beside hiking during this trip.
Getting Ready: The hiking group started with 10 people but ultimately only two of us signed up for the final hike.
Hostel: The room had 5 bunk beds and one bathroom. I would say it was one of the interesting experience I had beside hiking. I met two friends in their 20's who were hiking the PCT ("Pacific Trail") from Vancouver to Mexico from. It is a 6+ months journey - they had started from July 2nd. Met a French person who was biking from Vancouver to Las Vegas. Another person from Florida was going around the country in motorbike for the last 9 months. Another one was an expert mountain climber who has done few 14k feet hikes. Met a person who was hiking to Nevada sprinkling his father's ashes along the way. Each one had a different story and each story was unique and so amazing. It was an amazing experience talking to these folks even though you can hardly sleep with snoring and outside noise in that hotel.
We went to pizza for dinner with the two young friends who were doing PCT hikes and another French young men who was doing a hiking/running across death valley.
We had over packed by lot. My bag-pack was probably close to 30 lbs and after 1 hr the shoulders was already aching. This slowed us quite a bit.
The next hike is to Trail Crest (13,800 feet) but to go there is the hardest climb. It has 99 switch backs. When you see it looks like a straight mountain face going back and forth.
My legs were fine but I was already feeling a bit tired due to lack of oxygen and weight but we have to march along. Mental strength to keep moving to the next step is the biggest challenge and training helps a lot here.
The "99" switch-backs were hard. Initially, we used to stop every 300
feet initially but slowly it came to 200, 100, 50 and then finally 25 feet to
take breather or drink some water or grab a snack. There was snow and ice
and it made it quite difficult. I almost slipped twice (close call) and so I became
more careful. It took almost 2 hrs to climb the 1.8 miles to the top of
Trail Crest.
We reached at 11:50 am after 10 hrs of climb. It was an awesome view at 13,800 feet. Unfortunately heavy snow two days before made it dangerous for the final stretch of 1.9 miles (900 feet climb) to the top of Mt. Whitney. One of the hostel mates, who was an expert hiker said he tried but found it too dangerous because of black ice and the path is narrow. So, we decided to not to go forward. One expert hiker had forgotten his crampons. So, I gave mine for him to try. He later thanked me (he made it to the top) and said he will send a bottle for wine. I am glad he did it!
After staying for 45 min at the top, we started hiking down. The "99" switchbacks felt like never ending. We stayed at the trail camp, ate the PBJ sandwich and started hiking back again. It became dark when we reach Lone Pine Lake. We hiked down the last 2.5 miles in dark and at the bottom around 8:15 pm. The last 2+ hrs of hiking felt like never ending ... In total it was a 18+ hr hike.
We had a good dinner, took shower, took some pain killer and hit the bed. There were 8 people on that room with different snoring frequencies.
Even if we did not made it to the top, it was an amazing experience. The experience of mountain is beyond anything. No other thoughts came to mind except the nature and keep moving the foot one step at a time. That is close to meditation.
Day 4: Head back home. My hiking partner felt sick and so we stayed in between for him to take rest. I had no issues - no tiredness. I told my wife I am ready for a small hike tomorrow and she said "you are crazy" [ I did not do the hike on Sunday but a 3+ mile walk with my neighbor].
Each of us will have different experiences. For me, it was just amazing; meeting different people and hearing about the stories, the silence of darkness, the sunrise, the mountain top, the process of pushing forward one step at a time, it has helped me to understand a bit of myself and marvel about the nature an The few min of mediation at the top was my gratitude to the mountain for allowing me to get closer. I needed its blessing without that we would not have made it.
----
Note: This is my last blog in the current site (Google is not going to good job on the current blogging site). I will move to a new blogging site or may not blog anymore ...
----
Thank you all for your support. Wishing you all the best of your journeys!!!
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