Day 5 started early as it was going to be a long day. It would take me to Discovery Pinnacle, then onto Mount Whitney and down to Guitar Lake. I would end up covering 10 miles and climbing 3300 ft.
I had a lot of damp things from the rain the night before including my tent and sleeping bag, so I just packed up and started walking with the idea that I would eat breakfast and dry my stuff when the sun was out. It had stopped raining but there were still clouds around and it looked like it could rain again if the clouds came my way.
In the morning the rain had stopped but there were still threatening clouds
I made it to Upper Crabtree Lake, made breakfast and dried my things in the sun. The weather looked like it was holding so I headed up toward Discovery Pinnacle.
The way up to Discovery Pinnacle
The terrain was a loose mix of sand and rocks. Every step up slid back halfway. There was a section of snow that actually made travel easier because it didn't give way when I stepped on it.
From the slope I could get a good view of Upper Crabtree Lake, where I ate breakfast, and Crabtree Pass behind it. Now I could see that the north side of the pass was almost completely free of snow and I could probably have made it over with no trouble. Live and learn.
Looking south west at Upper Crabtree Lake and Crabtree Pass.
I am at about 13,000 ft elevation here.
Above 13,100 ft the terrain flattened out and I could see the pile of boulders on top of this mountain that was Discovery Pinnacle.
Looking north at Discovery Pinnacle from about 13,200 ft elevation.
It seemed like it took forever but I made the top of the pinnacle by about 11:00. I had gone 1.5 miles and climbed 1,600 ft in about 3 hours. This was the kind of travel I enjoyed the most and I was having a blast.
Looking north toward Mount Whitney. The summit is shrouded in clouds.
I scrambled down to the trail from Whitney Portal just before Trail Crest. Trail Crest is typically the culmination of a hard morning for people hiking up from the Whitney Portal trail head. For me, the hard part was over before I got there.
Looking down at Trail Crest. To the right is the way to Whitney Portal.
To the left is the trail down to Crabtree Meadow. Toward the top of the picture is the path to Mount Whitney.
I had been at the summit of Mount Whitney once before. Tom Kendall and I had hiked up and down in a day from Whitney Portal over 20 years ago. My dear friend passed away recently so this was a particularly emotional day for me.
The western slope of Mount Whitney. The summit still covered in clouds.
Sign at the summit of Mount Whitney. The elevation on my map is 14,505 ft and I have found several other values from
various surveys and calculations from old surveys. The point is that it is way up there.
The view from the top was just clouds. The guy behind me in the picture below with the dog and the flag is an army veteran who flies his flag at the top of mountains.
The stone hut was built in 1909 as a lightning shelter after the first person to die on Whitney was struck by lightning. There are two signs inside. One on the wooden floor says not to remove the wood floor as it is an integral part of the protection from lightning. The second sign on the wall says that the hut provides no lightning protection at all. I didn't stay long.
Having finally reached the summit of Whitney, the John Muir Trail portion of my trip finally began at 1:00 on day 5.
I still had a long way to go. There were scant places to camp before I got to Guitar Lake, which was still 5 miles away.
The trail sign at the Whitney Trail junction. Guitar Lake is in the background.
Guitar Lake was packed with people so I left the trail and followed Whitney Creek until I found a nice spot. My hunt for a secluded campsite paid off as I saw three bighorn sheep come down from Hitchcock Lakes and cross Whitney Creek. Bighorn sheep are a rare sighting in the Sierras.
Camp 5 with Mount Whitney behind.
My trip ended up being three separate trips. These first 5 days made up the first of these trips. The second part would last 9 days and would take me to the halfway point on the JMT, Muir Trail Ranch, where I would pick up additional food for the final part of the trip.
Just to recap the circuitous route I had taken to get here, lets take a look at the map below.
Circuitous route to Whitney. I probably could have gotten there faster, but it would not have been as much fun.
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1 comment:
Thanks for sharing the day
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