The Adventures of...: Days 44-46

Day 44, 18 miles, endpoint PCT mile 760

We woke up this morning with every intention of getting an early start. The alarm went off at 5am and Josh grabbed his shirt and shorts that were hanging up outside the tent. He had rinsed them in the creek last night and hung them to air-dry overnight. They didn't exactly dry. Instead, they were frozen, stiff, crunchy, and cold. We had slept without the rainfly and watched the stars before bed, but a temperature check showed it was now 26 degrees in our drafty, early morning tent. Not wanting to put on freezing clothes in below freezing temperature, we went back to sleep for a bit longer and waited until it was a balmy 36 degrees before actually getting up.

We spent the rest of the day climbing up above the 11,000 foot mark. I have to take back what I said yesterday about the Sierras being only so-so. Today we passed a beautiful alpine lake, saw snowy peaks up close, and hit 11,500 feet in elevation, higher than the summit of Mt. Hood. We left the Golden Trout Wilderness and passed the boundary into Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park.

Tomorrow will be a short day as we set up camp at the base of Mt. Whitney. We will hike up in the dark so we can be at the summit for sunrise, which should be spectacular.

Very excited to see our first alpine lake!

Trail views.

Trail views. After the lake, the scenery was amazing.

Leaving Golden Trout Wilderness.

And into Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks!

Trail views

Days 45 & 46, A bunch of miles and a mountain summit, endpoint PCT mile 770

I'm going to combine these days, because it was one long, long blur over two days. We had a short day yesterday, about 10 miles, to our camping spot at Guitar Lake. To get there we turned off the PCT at mile 766 and began our side trip to the summit of Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the US outside of Alaska.

The hike to Guitar Lake was excellent. We passed Crabtree Meadow, where deer grazed next to flowing snow melt-fed creeks. Several tents were set up in the meadow, but we wanted to go three miles further to our camping spot. We went up, up, up, past the aptly-named Timberline Lake, where the last trees we would see for awhile stood. Then it was to the rocky, alpine Guitar Lake at over 11,000 feet. We made camp and enjoyed the view of icy blue waters surrounded by snowy granite cliffs. Mt. Whitney loomed tall above the lake.

I took a nap that afternoon, as our plan was to leave overnight and reach the summit for sunrise. In the evening the temperature plummeted, and by the time we left camp at 11pm we were freezing. I wore every single piece of clothing I brought on the trip. I normally have a strict policy against hiking in my sleeping clothes, so that I always have clean-ish clothes to put on at bedtime. But my self-imposed rule went right out the window. Staying warm was more important than staying clean, so I put on my sleeping pants and sleeping shirt for the hike.

Going up the mountain in the dark was one of the harder things I have ever done. Our headlamps are lightweight and not very bright, so the trail itself was often hard to make out. We made a wrong turn more than once, including a rock scramble up a pinnacle that we weren't supposed to be on. I had the uneasy feeling the entire hike we were going the wrong way or the wrong direction, although we did eventually make it there. The dim lights also made it feel as if one wrong step would send us over a cliff wall to our certain death. We navigated over rocks, snow, and ice, each step a shaky one. And one other obstacle: the altitude. As soon as we got above the 12,000 foot mark, I began feeling light-headed, dizzy, short of breath, and mildly nauseous. By 13,000 feet I had a pounding headache. The 4.7 miles from Guitar Lake to the summit of Whitney took us five hours to complete. By the time we got there the sun was barely beginning its crest above the Eastern horizon, our breathing was haggard, and the water in our water bottles had frozen.

We had the summit to ourselves momentarily until a large group of hikers made their way to the top as well. Josh ran around with his camera taking pictures of the mountains surrounding us in a 360 degree circle while I bundled up under our quilt and watched the sunrise.

Going back down proved to be much easier than the trip up. In the light of day the trail was no longer quite as shifty and dangerous. We cruised down in no time, getting back to Guitar Lake by late morning. We were exhausted and slept for the afternoon.

We left the lake and hiked back down to the PCT in the evening. We are setting ourselves up for the next big challenge: Forester Pass, which we will go up and over tomorrow. This is the high point of the PCT at over 13,000 feet. We need to hit the pass towards late morning, which will be the best time for snow conditions.