Mt Whitney Oct 2005

In September of 2005 my Dad and I made a trip to hike Mt. Whitney near Lone Pine, CA. We took three days. The first day we drove about 7 hours from Loomis to the Whitney portal. When we arrived we were supposed to link up with the scouts from Loomis troop 20(?). We learned they had opted not to go because there was still quite a bit of snow above 13,000 ft. Needless to say we decided to continue. We hiked from 8,000 to 10,000 ft for the night. I had just gotten over being sick the past 2 weeks and had sinus congestion. So I woke up with an amazing headache. We made it up to just above 13,000 ft and decided to turn back due to snow, lack of proper equipment and most of all my headache. While at Whitney we met a lot of people. One of them was a guy who just hiked from the Kings Canyon/ Tulare County area on the John Muir Trail (If I remember correctly). He had a small pack and a walking stick he picked up on the trail. He had no crampons or ice axe like us. He had strapped climbing rope to his boots to give him traction on the snow and ice over the passes. We returned to the parking lot late in the day and headed to Bishop to stay the night in a hotel. On the way to Bishop my 4-runner's muffler came apart making it sound like we were driving a muscle car with the power of a tortoise. We had a nice relaxing night at the hotel hot tub, nursing our sore legs from the approximate 18 mile hike and delicious meal at a local restaurant. Day three we drove home and told ourselves we would try to summit Mt. Whitney again. It was very beautiful and I have to agree with my Dad, there is something very spiritual and personal about being on top of your portion of the world. Dad reached the summit in late 2007 with some friends but, I have yet to return. This year looks to be promising with the lack of rain and snow we have been having. In the event that I do I will post my next Whitney trip. Dad, thanks for a memorable trip.