Sunday, June 14. Clear and mid-40s going up to mid-60s.
Did not feel great last night. Breathing issues. My asthma is back. Hence why I have been struggling so much. Damn it!
Up at 6:00. Everything is damp. We are in no rush today as we need to stage ourselves to summit Mount Whitney. On trail at 7:20.
Time for the first water crossing. Most people crossed like this. Brad and I crossed on a log about 3 feet above the water just a bit downstream.
Had a steep climb to start the day. It was 10,100 feet at the top of the climb and it took me 2 hours to go 2.84 miles. Ugh.
I’m really having breathing issues again today. Combination of altitude and asthma, I think. Not good.
Stopped to dry my tent and rearrange my pack at 10:00 and 3.6 miles. Nice spot.
Made my second water crossing of the day here. Sandy bottom and no more than knee-deep. Crossed barefoot.
Saw this guy on the way to camp near Crabtree Meadows.
Made my third water crossing of the day. Narrow, knee-deep, very fast water. Wore my hiking shoes on this one due to the rock and rapid water.
Reached camp at 12:15 and 8 miles. I’m a mess. Back hurts, breathing issues are bad, and my stomach is bugging me a bit. That last maybe due to my tight hip belt.
Brad and Margarita were here. A ton of people are camping here in order to summit Whitney starting at 1:00 a.m. tonight. 25-mile round trip. They should be back by 11:00 a.m. I counted at least 70 tents here.
It thunderstormed with hail from 4:00 to 6:30 on and off. The temperature dropped a lot. We all hid in our tents trying to stay warm and dry.
Now for the bad news. Our goal was to get to Mount Whitney around noon and then summit Sunday night / Monday morning (night hike). I have finally gotten it through my head that I have been struggling a lot lately due to a combination of altitude and my breathing issues….again.
There is no way I can safely climb up 4,000 feet to summit Whitney. I either need to turn around and go back to Cottonwood Pass or push on past Forester Pass and then exit via Kearsarge Pass. It’s 21 miles back to Cottonwood or 31 miles to exit via Kearsarge Pass.
I took some oral steroids and a second hit of the steroid inhaler and rested the rest of the afternoon. I will repeat that in the morning. I plan to try for Kearsarge Pass with Brad and Margarita instead of hiking backwards solo.
We have to cross our first of many high mountain passes tomorrow. These passes have snow above 11,000 feet approximately. You can safely cross the snow when it is mostly frozen, but when it heats up and gets slushy it becomes difficult to cross. You start to posthole, which means your foot and leg punch through the snow crust. There are tree tops, limbs, and other junk hiding under that snow. It’s painful, slow, and not recommended to cross snow like this.
Tomorrow Margarita and I will hike 8.6 miles to Tyndall Creek Campsite at 11,041 feet. Brad will join us later in the day after the rest from his Whitney Summit night hike. This stages us to start climbing Forester Pass (13,120 feet) early the following day. We have to go up 4.8 miles, and then down the other side about 4 miles as early as possible to get through the snow fields while they are solid. After that we have about another 6 miles to reach our staging campsite to exit at Kearsarge Pass the day after that.
The exit via Kearsarge Pass (11,791) is 7.5 miles ending at Onion Valley Campground. We will need to hitch out of there to the main road about 15 miles away. From the main road, we will hitch or shuttle or bus north 40 miles to the town of Bishop for a zero day.
Technical Notes:
- Protein Shake (10oz): 330 cal, 19g carb, 13.5g fat, 36g protein
- Banana Chips (18p, 30g): 150 kcal, 20g carb, 8g fat, 1g protein
- Banana Chips (18p, 30g): 150 kcal, 20g carb, 8g fat, 1g protein
- Tuna: 90 kcal, 4-7g carb, 1g fat, 14-16g protein
- Generic Rice Cold Soak: 200 kcal, 45g carb, .5g fat, 5g protein
- Fritos 160
- Banana Chips (18p, 30g): 150 kcal, 20g carb, 8g fat, 1g protein
- Curry Noodles 450
- Dehydrated chicken 170
- Skittles (2.17oz): 250 kcal, 56g carb, 2.5g fat, 0g protein
- Water liters: 3
- Miles: 8.29
- Time: 5:00
- Up: 2152
- Down: 1037
- Calories consumed: 2200
- Calories burned: 2273
- iPhone battery used: 50%
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