Journey Day 58 | PCT Day 58
Keith, Me, David Swanston and Jeff atop Mt. Whitney
6/13/85
Up at 5:30 a.m., out of camp at 7:30 a.m., for our hike up Mt. Whitney. Slowly, but surely we hike up through beautiful trees, boulders, creeks. Cross one raging creek with rope. On up past Glacier Lakes, Guitar and Timberline lakes where others are camped.
Eating snow, walking across fields of it, we eventually lost the trail in the snow and decided to climb above the snowfields to a visible switchback in the trail. We make the path, climb on up.
Light packs, only food and minimal gear, feel great. Going slowed by frequent photo and gawking stops. One break near the path to Whitney Portal or Muir brings a marmot. Jeff’s pack the object of its curiosity. We pelt it with words, then rocks, but this creature is tame, unphased.
We hit some snow fields, which raise our fears, wet our boots. But we have no incidents as we gain altitude. The hike seems endless, over 4,000 feet in altitude gained in about eight miles. After much hiking, we reach a point below Whitney where the trail is buried in snow. So up we scrambled across a large snowfield on a rocky ridge.
At the top, we find Father Andrew, 51, and his companion, Chuck. They’re heading down already. They had been camped near us the night before, but we hadn’t realized it.
I take a potty stop in an ice-floored hut erected by the Smithsonian Institute, according a plaque. Relax, eat, look about at the endless rows of peaks, valley, Lone Pine, a community below.
But too many people after such a hike make the natural experience less enjoyable. Also it’s still a long way down and our gear is unguarded. David leaves sooner, speed hiking down. We follow soon after. Snowfields, rocks still a challenge. Lose the trail in a different place this time as Jeff, Keith and I talk sports, colleges, rock music.
Down, down, ‘til we make it back to our base camp. The Ens are there. We eat, talk, relax after tough hike to the highest point in the lower 48 states. Gwen arranges a PCT party with hot drinks, fireside talk. Eight PCT hikers together breaks our record from Kennedy Meadows. Fun time ends too late, with more hiking ahead.
