Today we woke up bright and early and reluctantly, hoisted our packs and hit the trail by 6:30am. We knew we were in for a tough time, as Claire was still on her way out from the stomach flu, and had yet to hold down a substantial amount of food. On top of THAT, her time of the month started yesterday. This meant the addition menstrual cramps and extra nausea and fatigue. Yeah, wow... Someone get this girl a medal!
As I said earlier, this wasn't an easy hike. We were camped over 10,700 feet. We faced a climb up 2,900 feet in 5.7 miles up the tallest mountain in the contiguous US, directly into a descent of 5,400 feet in 8.8 miles. A 14.5 mile day in possible snow and Mars-like terrain with our full packs while Claire fights her sickness and I mule up most of our food weight and our water. I mean, today kicked MY butt super hard and I'm not even sick!!
That being said it was super beautiful. And by taking it slow, we got to take many pictures and "enjoy" it as much as possible.
We climbed up and up passing a nice lake and within a few hours came upon Guitar Lake. It didn't look like a guitar from down next to the waters edge, but you'll see later why it was aptly named so.
We climbed way above the timberline and started some loooooong switch backing above the lakes.
There, that's looking more like a guitar now:
We kept climbing for hours. Taking rests when needed and slowly chipping away towards our goal, taking in the breathtaking (and dizzying) views every now and then.
Soon we had made it to Trail Crest at 13,600 feet! There were many not-full backpacks that hikers had left to climb up the last 1.9 miles to get to the tip-top. The view of the side we came up was amazing! We were on top of the world!!
After the photos we headed towards our exit, Whitney Portal. Now you may say 1.9 miles more doesn't sound like a lot, but climbing 1,100 feet up and over boulders in 1.9 miles and then back down in my poor baby's state was not about to happen. We had to get down the mountain to Lone Pine, food, and lower elevation. Catch you next time, summit!
After passing up and over the crest, the view on the other side was also amazing! I don't think we missed much that you could see from the very top. We had a 360 view except to the north, where the Whitney protruded. The east facing side was daunting to say the least!
We're actually super lucky that we got to do the Whitney Portal Trail. Us PCT hikers usually aren't allowed to hike down it to access Whitney but the ranger up at Crabtree Meadow had given us special permission because of our situation. I can now see why people get permits months in advance. The trail is BEAUTIFUL and almost literally goes STRAIGHT down the mountain! 97 switchbacks baby, woo-hoo!!
There were some awesome lakes and waterfalls and pretty wildflowers when we dropped down lower. Although physically frustrating, the trail was magnificent and there was something really neat around every corner.
We also ran into Mark and RuthAnne!
We were super surprised to see them as I said before there aren't any other PCT'ers on this trail. They had gone down a different pass and had met up with their daughter to "day-hike" up to the summit. Then they would continue up and over and their daughter would return back down. That's a hardcore 21 mile hike for her, Claire and I still hope she made it out before dark as we saw them coming up after noon!
As we dropped down lower on the trail, it was not uncommon for the trail to be a river! I think this was due to the unusual heatwave this year causing rapid snowmelt and swollen rivers and streams. As crazy as it was, we somehow managed to not get out feet completely wet the entire way down!!
Soon we could narrow in on our "Portal" and view the desert floor way below. It was hard to imagine that we'd be down there tonight!
Within a few miles from the bottom, we met a day hiker named Suzy and talked to her for a while. She offered to give us a ride into Lone Pine when we got to the parking lot at the bottom of the trail. Sweet!
Our legs had lost their feeling, our shoulders ached horribly and or bodies were deliriously sore but eventually we made it down! It felt so strange to jump into a car and zoom down the steep graded road down to the desert floor!
Suzy dropped us off in front of the Hostel in town. It was after 5pm but still blazing hot! They had had weather over 100 degrees the last few days while we ran around in the High Sierra in our t-shirts and shorts in perfect daytime temperatures!
We decided to get a room at the Historic Dow Villa Hotel, since it was around the same price as the hostel but for a private room. The Dow Villa is the oldest hotel around; John Wayne and Gene Autry would stay here while filming a bunch of old westerns close by back in the day!
After such a long day I was STARVING and even Claire's appetite had started to come back. Time for some food!
(Don't worry, for her poor tummy's sake she only ate half of it.. Like I said, I was STARVING :)
We went back to the Dow Villa to relax in our rooms. I'm writing this the next day because I fell asleep super quickly and had the hardest, best sleep of my life! We were thoroughly exhausted and a little sunburnt to boot. I'm just happy that we made it off the mountain before starving and my baby can rest and recover :)
-Thanks for reading!
Sooooo glad you were able to make it out in one day. Thanks to the ranger "allowing" it.
ReplyDeleteI would not have been able to make it through the part with the snow and chains...
I know it's the angle of the photo, but that burrito looks almost larger than Claire! After all you've both been through in the last two weeks both of you must only weigh 90 pounds!
Glad you're off the trail for now and resting.
Whoah, such amazing photos!
ReplyDeleteNice silver lining that you got to hike the portal section. Looks pretty cool.
ReplyDelete-GoalTech