Category: pacific crest trail

Day 21: On top of Mt Whitney

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0.4m north of Guitar Lake to Whitney Portal

Mileage: 16.8 miles, total 210.4 miles

Max elevation: 14,505 feet (Mt Whitney summit)

I woke at 3.15 AM to the sight of headlamps snaking their way up the mountain. It reminded me of Kilimanjaro and, whilst I briefly wanted to charge up there after them, I was happy with our decision as otherwise we would have had to rise at midnight. This way we got some sleep at least.

The trail initially climbed up via some steep switchbacks. It was nice climbing by the light of our headlamps and that of the moon but the day soon brightened enough that we could walk by the oncoming dawn.

The switchbacks were nice and long and easy but we kept our pace as slow as possible given the altitude we were climbing to. We came across a group who said they had bumped into a pair of hikers earlier who had to abandon their attempt on Whitney due to altitude sickness. In addition, we came across blood which had dried on the trail apparently from someone’s nose bleed, another sign of altitude sickness.

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Day 20: Guitar Lake

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Tyndall Creek to 0.4 miles up from Guitar Lake

Mileage: 11.5 miles, total 206.3 miles

Campsite elevation: 11,658 feet

Last night ended up being quite cold at Tyndall Creek. It was the first night on the trail which I have had the sleeping bag zipped right up and wore long clothes to sleep in. It didn’t warm up until the sun rose above the mountains.

Today was basically a day to get us set up for the ascent of Mt Whitney tomorrow. Although it could technically be done in a day, there is too much of a risk of dangerous thunderstorms occurring on the summit in late afternoon. Whilst the forecast for us was good, we thought we would go the safety first route and camp at Guitar Lake before our summit attempt in the morning.

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Day 19: Forester Pass

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Vidette Meadow to Tyndall Creek

Mileage: 12.3 miles, total 194.8 miles

Max elevation: 13,124 feet (Forester Pass)

Campsite elevation: 11,041 feet

Today was a day we were both excited about and a little nervous as we would be climbing to the highest point on the Pacific Crest Trail being Forester Pass at 13,124 ft. Forester is a little notorious for both the steep, precipitous drop offs on it southern side as well as the ice chute where hikers cross a 50 degree snow field with a drop of close to 200 ft.

We started the day approximately 7 miles from the top of Forester so began our climb slowly as we gained elevation. When we climbed Kilimanjaro in 2012, the guides would insist on a slow pace (pole pole in swahili meaning slowly slowly) and on drinking lots of water. We tried to take this into account on the ascent taking it nice and easy.

The trail continued through the pine forest for a while before reaching tree line. There were some beautiful views as we climbed up.

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Day 18: Back over Kearsarge

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Onion Valley Trailhead to Vidette Meadow

Mileage: 9.5 miles, total 182.5 miles

Campsite elevation: 9,927 feet

We had a busy day today getting our final bits of packing done as we were being picked up at 9 AM. After breakfast and checking out, we were picked up by SherpaMax which is a service which ferries hikers between towns and the various trailheads.

From Lone Pine, it is a 40 mile drive north to a small town called Independence, so named because it was founded on Independence Day. Like many small towns, it has an impressive courthouse whose grandeur is completely out of place with the smallness of the town.

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Day 11: Tahoe Tim Trail – done!

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Round Lake to Kingsbury S Trailhead

Mileage: 27.0 miles (inc 0.8m side trails), total 171.0 miles

Elevation: 6,463 feet

Last night was quite cold at our campsite at Round Lake. The wind was blowing quite strongly off the lake and, unfortunately, single wall tents are not the best at excluding drafts.

After breakfast, we had a nice downhill stretch to warm up with. The trail was quiet apart from one group we passed who were playing music and asked if this was the way to Sacramento.

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Day 10: Goodbye Pacific Crest Trail

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Tamarack Lake to Round Lake

Mileage: 18.9 miles, total 139.3 miles

Campsite elevation: 8,100 feet

It was good to see the dawn slowly breaking as it got light around our campsite. I was the first person awake at around 5.30 AM and took the opportunity to admire the view down towards the lakes.

After breakfast, we left before much of the campground was stirring. There was a short 0.3 mile hike back to rejoin the TRT which then led down towards Echo Lake. The terrain underfoot was very rocky and this made progress slow.

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Day 9: Lake Aloha

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Middle Velma Lake to Tamarack Lake

Mileage 13.8 miles, total 126.6 miles

Campsite elevation: 7,875 feet

Today was a great day in all respects and had some of the best scenery I’ve come across whilst hiking.

We got going by 7.30 from our campsite at Middle Velma Lake and began our climb up to Dick’s Pass. The climb was fairly uneventful and not too steep, with switchbacks where necessary to make the gradient easier.

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Day 8: Into Desolation Wilderness

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S of Barker Pass to Middle Velma Lake

Mileage: 17.1 miles, total 112.8

Campsite elevation: 7,901 feet

When we woke up this morning, our Dutch friend was long gone but Bill was still sleeping as we made breakfast. There were some stirrings as we got back on the trail so we bid him farewell.

From the campsite, we climbed up another 500 ft or so to the top of a ridge. There were plenty of snow patches on the way which we had to climb over or around. At the top, we were treated to a nice view of McKinney Bay in Lake Tahoe.

It was then a 4.5 mile descent past Barker Pass trailhead which was basically the last time I had any phone reception.

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Day 7: Twin Peaks

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Tahoe City to S of Barker Pass

Mileage: 14.3 miles, total 95.7 miles

Campsite elevation: 8,078 ft

We started the day with breakfast at Rosie’s in town. Tahoe City doesn’t seem to wake up until late so it was pretty dead when we walked in. It was an interesting place with moose heads on the wall.

After breakfast, we watched some junk American TV shows and then headed to Alpenglow, a local outdoors store. We asked about snow conditions on Dick’s Pass and whether an ice axe would be required. They were great and said they hadn’t heard of a single person going through in the last three weeks who had required an ice axe.

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