California - Mt. Whitney - 14497 Feet - June 24, 2004

Sunday June 20, 2004 - We flew to Los Angeles, rented a van, and drove up I5, CA14, and I395 to Lone Pine. We turned left at Lone Pine onto Whitney Portal Road and drove to Whitney Portal Campground. Each campsite had a bear box and the camphost came around to make us "bear aware."

Monday June 21, 2004 - The Meysen Lake Trail starts at the east end of the campground. We hiked part of this trail to get used to the altitude.

Tuesday June 22, 2004 - We put our food and scented items that we were not taking with us in the community bear boxes at the trailhead. The food we would eat today went in our packs. The rest of the food for the hike went in a bear resistant canister. It can be seen in the picture. These are made so a bear can't get a good grip on them. They're also not able to be securely attached to a backpack. I put it inside my pack. We hiked 3.8 miles to Outpost Camp. It rained while we were setting up the tents, but everything dried quickly. There are toilets here and at Trail Camp. They are emptied by helicopter.

Wednesday June 23, 2004 - We hiked 2.4 miles to Trail Camp. It is at about 12000 feet. It got below freezing here at night. There was a skim coat of ice on the lake in the morning. There were no mosquitos. Tree line was at about 11000 feet.

Thursday June 24, 2004 - We hit the trail early, at 6 am. The switchbacks were icy and snowy in spots, but were not too treacherous. The cables were up at the section where the snow was worst. We arrived at Trail Crest at about 8:30. The view to the west was spectacular. We continued along the back side, passing the windows. The windows are exposed sections of trail between the Needles (peaks) with extreme dropoffs on either side. We crossed one snowfield on the final approach to Mt. Whitney and arrived at the summit at 11 am. It was perfectly clear with views that words can't do justice. We stayed about a half hour and then returned to Trail Camp by 3:30 pm. (9.6 miles round trip)

Friday - June 25, 2004 - We hiked back to Whitney Portal, drove into Lone Pine, got a room, and had dinner at the High Sierra Cafe.

Saturday - June 26, 2004 - Since it was so close, we drove through Death Valley on our way back to Los Angeles. We stopped at Badwater, the lowest point in the U.S.