On Sunday and Monday I climbed Mt. Whitney for the first time. What an amazing experience. Pictured here at the top of Mt. Whitney, from left to right, is Robbie Wertz (my step brother), my brother Rob, my dad, Rick and myself.
We did the trip in two days. The first day we hiked from Whitney Portal to Trail Camp (6.3 miles and nearly 4,000 feet up). We camped at Trail Camp (12,600 ft elevation). That night the temperature dropped to at least 20 degrees or colder. Our tents were not quite up to the challenge and we froze our butts off. Not too much sleep that night. The next day we hiked the remaining 4.7 miles (and almost 2,000 ft) to the summit, descended back to Trail Camp, packed up and descended the rest of the way to Whitney Portal. That was a very long day and the final hour of the hike was done in the dark.
It was an incredibly rewarding experience for all of us. My dad is 62 years old and wasn't sure he was up to the challenge but he did remarkable. Really inspiring! The picture below is the view from our campsite as the sun was rising on Monday morning. Mt. Whitney itself is actually not visible in this picture. It's further to the right. There are hundreds more pictures which you can see by clicking here.
Believe it or not, there are many people who do the trip in a single day. We met dozens of people who started from Whitney Portal at 3:30 or 4:00 am and went the entire day. We also met a couple of different groups who were just finishing the entire John Muir Trail, which starts in Yosemite Valley and ends at Mt. Whitney - approx. 210 miles in all.
I hope to do this trip again in the future and take some friends along. Anyone want to go???
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