It was Friday morning on the 22nd of May. Across the street, kids walked through the gates of Porter Middle School. We weren't going to school today. We had bigger, better things planned. As the scouts of Troop 104 gathered in the parking lot of St. Stephen's Church, we loaded up our packs in Mr. Lopez's truck, and then hopped in the cars to head over to the Lopez's house to pick up Julian, Nicholas, and their Uncle Steve before we can head out. After a few minor setbacks thanks to some misplaced gaiters, Narayan, Matt, Mr. Liebeskind, Mr. Yaffee (a friend of Mr. Liebeskind) and Mr. Krueger hopped into the KruegerVanMobile and the rest of us piled into the Lopez's beast of a truck, and then we headed out.
About three and a half hours later, we arrived at the Mt. Whitney Visitor's center, which was actually nowhere near the mountain, but actually in the middle of the desert basin that below it. Here, we picked up our poop bags and got some important information before we headed up to the portal camp.
As we drove up to the portal with the windows down and the wind in our hair, we felt the temperature drop quite a few degrees from when we were down at the visitor center. At the portal, we set up camp and began to explore the area. In the portal store, we found inflated bags of candy from the altitude and a wide array of everything you might have forgotten in preparing for trekking up Mt. Whitney. Near our campsite was a stream which seemed to run all the way off the mountain, and on the other side of it was a trail which we followed for maybe a mile or two, burning off some energy and getting acclimated. Back in camp, we climbed some rocks and ate a hearty meal of delicious pasta and meat sauce for lunch and dinner. We built a campfire, which became the gathering point for the whole camp, as neighboring campers came and joined us by the fire. That night, I found that I had to make sure I didn't rush or push my body too fast when I threw up for laying down too fast to go to sleep. In the morning, we awoke as the sun began to rose through the trees. We ate breakfast packed up, and then set out on the trail.
We followed the trail higher and higher up the side of the valley we had stayed in the night before. The first thing that surprised me was the amount of other hikers on the trail with us. When they say that Mt. Whitney is a popular place, they aren't kidding. People going on day trips, people planning on staying the night like us, people with kids, and people with dogs, passed us by, heading both ways. As we hiked, we crossed little streams and water falls that trickled by, and to our left we could see the forest of the Mt.Whitney portal and the desert that stretched out beyond that. On the other side, the mountains that surround Death Valley rose from the flat Earth to meet the clouds. Soon, we came to the first patch of snow that we could touch, and a small snowball fight followed. We breaked often because of the thin air, and often found ourselves next to beautiful waterfalls and scenic views.
We intended to stop at 10,000 feet to take a picture, but we found a spot at 10,070 feet that looked nicer, so we took a picture there instead.
We continued on our way up, stopping at a spot with a plethora of snow to readjust our packs and climb the snow drifts and then slide back down, we continued from there to our lunch stop, singing camp songs (and a little bit of "Hotel California) along the way. We stopped for lunch at what is called "Outpost Camp", and as we feasted, we admired the beauty of the area, particularly the nearby waterfall that had carved it's way through the snow, which we filled our water bottles from before we set out again.
Within an hour, we had left the tree line behind, and we hiked on giant granite slabs that jutted out of the snow. We stopped to admire the view and the marmots who had made their home up there. Within a few minutes, it began to snow. Undaunted, we put on our jackets and kept hiking. We crossed a few snow drifts and headed over one more crest and we reached Trail Camp.
Trail camp sits in a basin at the foot of the peak of Mt. Whitney, at about 11,000 feet. It is made up of granite slabs that stick up out of the mountain, and people pitch their tents wherever there is flat space. Little rock walls protected the tents from the wind, and the area around the granite is covered in snow. Nearby was a small pond and lake which had partially frozen over. Little black specks, which turned out to be people, climbed the snow in the distance to reach the summit because the switchbacks were frozen and snowed over. Dinner was warm that night, and the sleeping bags were warmer.
The next morning, I got up to go to the bathroom in a T-shirt and some plain old scout pants. Other campers in the area were all wrapped up in down jackets and thermals, holding hot cups of coffee as they stared at me when I walked by. I didn't understand why they were looking at me so funny, since the breeze wasn't even that cold. On my way, I stepped in a puddle, which then cracked and shattered. It was frozen. I guess it was colder than it felt. After breakfast, we headed over to the nearby lake, which was well frozen. Nick, Julian, and Matt went out on stood on the ice, and I stood on a rock next to it. I don't like cold water in my boots. After, we climbed up a smaller snow chute than the one we had seen the specks on the day before and reached about 12,000 feet before we let ourselves slide back down and then walked back to camp.
The hike down was far less strenuous that the hike up the day before, with the acceptation of the slippery snow drifts we had to cross. On the way down, we saw hang gliders drifting amongst the clouds. Compared with the air at 11,000 feet, the amount of oxygen at our disposal on the way down was much appreciated. We stopped for lunch at outpost camp again before we headed the rest of the way down. Back at the portal, ,we loaded up the cars and went home.
Right now, you are probably wondering, "hey, what about going to the summit?" The way to the summit of Whitney was all snow and ice, with pointy rocks to break your fall. We didn't have the proper gear to make it to the top safely, so we'll just have to do it next time.
On the way back, Mr. Krueger's van began to overheat thanks to a gash in the radiator hose. We duct taped the hose up and refilled the radiator with the pure mountain water in our nalgenes, and it lasted long enough to get off of the freeway. Unfortunately, gas stations don't sell car parts any more, only food, so we couldn't fix the problem. We called AAA and took Matt home in the truck, leaving the Narayan, Mr. Krueger, Mr. Yaffee, and Mr. Liebeskind to get home at a later time.
All in all, it was a good trip. The area was beautiful and the hikers were polite. We all agree that we are going to go again, and next time, we will make it to the top. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy a lunch that wasn't freeze-dried and cooked in a pouch.
--Jonathan
