Wednesday – drive to Lone Pine (gateway town in the Owen’s Valley). Rangers are supposed to have left permit in night drop box, but it isn’t there. So we drop our plans to sleep at the trailhead and rent a couple of rooms at the Dow Villa Motel – fine rooms with an awesome view of Mt. Whitney – and go out for pizza and beer.
Thursday – fine breakfast at the High Sierra Café, then on to the Ranger’s Station to pick up permits. Get up to the trailhead (8000 feet) and start hiking in around 9:30 A.M. Switchbacks for about 4 hours, (up 2000 feet in 3.5 miles) then pull into Outpost Camp – beautiful rock walls surrounding a meadow campsite, with a gushing waterfall at the south end. Set up camp, eat, laze around, sleep. Windy that night so no mosquitoes.
Friday – pack up and head up the trail. Another 2000 feet elevation gain, this time in 2.5 miles. Some soft snow to cross through, including one slightly dicey traverse across the top of a snow field. No problem! After 3 hours, pull into Trail Camp, find a nice campsite, set up. Eat, laze around, admire the awesome views.
Saturday – up early and hit the trail at 6:30 A.M. First is a steep 1800 foot headwall covered in soft snow. Luckily it froze the night before so we can just manage our way up it with crampons and ice axes with some very judicious route-finding by my H, who kicks steps all the way up. People who left an hour after us were completely unable to climb it – snow had gotten too soft by then. Discover I have a talent for using crampons! Get to the top of the headwall after three hours of climbing. When the going got a little tough, I used this trick – “This step is for Floyd, this step for Will, this step for Mal, this step for Chilly, this one for Bridget, this one for SB, this one for Mycroft……..etc etc etc”.
Trail then winds around the back side of the ridge, awesome views into the Sierras at 14000 feet. Trail is about 3 feet wide, with rock spires going up on the east side and steep rock slide-covered slopes on the west. Not a trail for anyone with a fear of heights! At a couple of places, there are gaps between the spires, with a sheer drop down 2000 feet on one side. Crossed those sections quickly and was glad there was no wind! Seems like this part of the trail – 2.5 miles and only 700 feet elevation gain – should go quickly, but things move deceptively slowly at 14000 feet. Also, there is still some snow on the trail, and we must bushwhack our own path through soft manky snow and over giant slab boulders. After another three hours, we reach the summit at about 1:00 P.M. under a cloudless blue sky. Can see forever in all directions.
Head back down the trail. Get to top of headwall and decide to glissade down (slide on our butts) the 1800 foot headwall. Imagine the most terrifying toboggan ride of your life multiplied by 100!! Get to camp, eat some food, then pack up and decide to hike out the remaining 6 miles that night. Start at 5:20 P.M. with the mantra “pizza and beer, pizza and beer” in our heads. Spend the next 4 hours hiking out, the last hour in the dark with headlamps on, crossing streams that are now really swollen with melted snow so that the stepping stones are covered with two inches of rushing water – tricky in the dark! Get out at 9:20 and head into Lone Pine, rent some more fine rooms at the Dow Villa motel and have ourselves some pizza and beer! An excellent adventure all around!
