Day 50: Sunrise at 14,505 feet

June 8, Day 50: 766.3-770.3

Miles Hiked: 4 PCT, 20 total for the day

Mt Whitney sunrise summit, 16 miles of non-PCT miles

Gratitude of the Day:  I’m thankful that my body is holding up to the continuous stress I’ve been putting it through lately. I hope that it’ll continue to do so through the rest of the trail. 

Mt Whitney Summit

My alarm went off at 12am (2 hours of sleep), time to get out of the warm sleeping bag and pack all of my clothes and sleeping bag into my pack. This morning I’m up early to climb Mt Whitney, it’s 8 miles from camp and 4000 feet of elevation.  I left at 12:30 and walked by the light of my headlamp, just the stars and Milky Way above was all that was out tonight. I walked by streams I could hear and lakes I knew were there but couldn’t really see them. Then it was a ton of switchbacks that seemed to just take forever and the wind started to pick up which made it even colder than it already was. Finally I gained the saddle where the Crabtree Meadow route and the Whitney Portal route joined, and then it was another 2 miles hiking in the dark on the ledge behind the needles. Finally at 4:30 I reached the stone shelter at the summit of 14,505 feet, my second summit of Mt Whitney.  Then it was change into ever stitch of clothing and try to cocoon myself into my quilt to stay warm and watch the amazing sunrise.

So cold!

Because it was so cold, it wasn’t really all that pleasant, once the sun broke the horizon I took my obligatory summit photo and then packed up and headed back down. This time it was light out and you could see the trail I had just navigated by headlamp. Stunning views into Sequoia National Park and the high alpine lakes below. I took the downhill slower just to make sure my shin splints wouldn’t flair up and after getting through all the grueling switchbacks I made it to Guitar Lake to enjoy the sun and eat some snacks with the rest of the group. Then it was still another 2.5 miles back to camp.  Once back I needed to move my tent because it was just cooking in the morning sun, so a quick reposition into the shade and it was finally nap time. 

After just an hour nap, everyone was stirring and it was time to reorganize the bag, do a little cleaning and pack up to get back on the PCT. Tonight I just walked 4 miles outside of Crabtree Meadows and am camped right next to a beautiful, clear high Sierra stream. It’s early to bed since I didn’t sleep well last night and barely got a nap in. Tomorrow I’ll cross over the highest point on the PCT, Forrester Pass, so another big elevation gain and loss.