Tag: lone pine

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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Back on the John Muir Trail

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A few years ago, I hiked the John Muir Trail from Happy Isles in Yosemite to Kearsarge Pass, a distance of around 180 miles. We had some weather which came through, including snow which made the passes a little sketchy. We decided to come off the trail at Kearsarge with the intention of returning at a future date. With the completion of the TRT, that time is now.

Tomorrow morning, we will leave Lone Pine and head up Kearsarge to recommence our JMT hike. The weather forecast is looking good with only limited chances of thunderstorms. There were some nasty looking clouds over Mt Whitney this afternoon but we understand it will be clear the next few days so we have a good weather window.

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Heading to Lone Pine

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After finishing the trail yesterday, we headed down to Lone Pine to start our hike of the John Muir Trail in a few days. The closest town we could find on the drive from Tahoe was Bridgeport which was an hour and a half south of Kingsbury.

We arrived at the motel at around 10pm last night after the drive. The motel was basic but clean and, after a few Facetime calls to our wives and family, it was time to grab some needed sleep.

The next morning, we headed down to the local bar for breakfast. It was one of those places where there are a couple of guys shooting pool in the corner and people look up when you enter. The waitresses were friendly enough and we had breakfast and coffee whilst watching the World Cup.

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