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summit day

at 05:10 i woke up and started throwing on clothes trying to get ready. at all the ranger station when i got the permit they told me not to leave anything in the car that had a scent to it food, chapstick, dishes. when you're camping out of the back of your car that's just about everything. so at the time it seemed like a good idea to just park a little way down and walk up, hopefully catching a ride up to the trailhead. not it'd been at least four years since i'd been up the portal road to the whitney trailhead so i wasn't too sure how far it was. if this is starting to sound like foreshadowing that's because it is.

i parked the truck a little before 06:00 and hiked almost 5 miles up the road to the trailhead. the only two cars that drove by ignored my extended thumb. i kept thinking it was always just a little bit further. by the time i realized where it was it was too far to walk back to the truck and have a shot at the mountain. i arrived at the trial head around 08:00, most people start around 03:00 or 04:00.

i had plenty of time to think on the way up, the walk on the asphalt had really taken the spring out of my step and i wasn't sure how far i was going to make it. i started telling myself that i'd hike until 13:30 and turn it around if i wasn't close. it was beautiful country and on the whole i was feeling pretty good.

the trail is 11 miles to the summit with the last campground at mile 6, 3 miles of switchbacks up to summit ridge and another 3 miles to the summit. about 1/4 of the way up the switchbacks i find a fellow named greg chilling out on the rocks. "which way you going? up or down?" "not really sure yet" he replied. i told him about my whole 13:30 plan and it kind of intrigued him. up the switchbacks we went and i finally started passing a couple of people who were headed for the summit.

at around 13:30 we hit the summit ridge. earlier in the day another hiker had told me about mt muir, another 14,000 ft summit on the ridgeline, but 2 and 1/2 miles closer. he was a bit vague on how to get up it but it was on tiny map that came with my permit. not really wanting to go back empty-handed i mentioned it to greg.

greg was into it so we started trying to find a line up onto the top of it. we did some scrambling and 45 minutes later were on top of it. until we looked to the left and saw that we'd picked the wrong spire. at this point we were both huffing pretty bad and no intention of scrambling down, hiking over to the other side and then hoping that we could find a way up what seemed like a 4th or 5th class climb (this is a reference to the yosemite decimal system of rating terrain. 4th class indicates hands and feet are needed with ropes optional. 5th class being ropes required (unless you're some crazy solo climber)) from the 3 sides we'd been able to see.

i hiked with greg down to his camp, he fed me a top ramen and gave me a tylenol--which at that point i really needed--and i started bombing down the hill. i was trying to make sure i'd get down before everyone else, i really didn't want to walk all the way back down to my truck and i figured with a sob story like that someone would give me a ride.

wayne wadell was that kind soul. it was his 52nd birthday and he'd come to climb mt whitney. he was interesting character, a huey door gunner in vietnam, a lead rocket booster testing team leader for the ill-fated west coast space shuttle program, and now a going to school for a degree in theater. my favorite story was how in a cowboy hat like mine he left los angles, ca on a monday and arrived in huntsville, al on a thursday hitching rides from truckers. said he averaged 40-something miles-per-hour the entire way.

oh also during the hiking i drank some snow water. greg and i have a bet going on whether or not i'll get giardia. check back in about 5 days and see if i'm complaining.

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Posted by: Dee at July 15, 2003 12:51 PM

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