Well Dylan and I successfully capped off a 50 mile, 4 day backpacking trip by summitting Mt. Whitney (14,497' above sea level) yesterday. The weather was gorgeous. Initilly I was awoken by howling winds at 2 or 3am as we were camping by a small tarn above Guitar Lake at about 11,600' elevation. Soon after, some early risers tromped by and I could see their little headlamps slowly making their way up the mountain in the darkness. We were on the trail by 6am and on the summit by 9:45. It was sunny, blue skies, very little wind and quite comfortable on top. Maybe in the 40's, but with little wind, bright sun, and a racing heart it felt great. After a few pix we quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) headed down over 1 vertical mile on 11 trail miles to Whitney Portal. We were pretty ready for a shower and a burger (in reverse order). We had so many wonderful days and met many great people including a girl about to start grad school who had just done 350 miles of the AT and has now added the entire John Muir Trail to her resume- she's staying at the same hostel as us in Lone Pine. Pictures will come soon including numerous wildflowers including Indian Paintbrush, Lilies, Sky Pilot(!!), Penstemon, and Shooting Stars to name a few of my faves. See you all soon!
Vaya con Dios,
Eli (and Dylan)
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1 comment:
Mt Whitney sucks! Sounds fun though, glad you guys are havinhg a good time!
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