The Climb: Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney 

In the lower 48 states, at 14,508 ft Mt Whitney tops out higher than all other peaks. Naturally, people who like to hike mountains add Whitney to their bucket list. The Pacific Crest Trail and the John Muir Trail both intersect with Whitney and since it's right there most through hikers add summiting Whitney to their trail miles. Consequently, the USFS controls the number of hikers on the mountain with a permit system. Most people plan Whitney trips far in advance and have their permit reserved, but cancellations happen so it's possible to walk into the Eastern Sierra Inter-Agency office and just get lucky. That's what happened to us. Kristy walked into the office to find out "how to" details and walked back out with a three 3-day permit.

Quick change. Here we sit in the Agency's parking lot, trailers in tow, knowing we need to fill up our water tanks before heading into the nearby BLM's Alabama Hills to dry camp. Now we need an immediate plan to set up camp and hustle up the mountain to start backpacking. Luckily, we had all taken the time to pull out our gear and ready our backpacks during our stay in Bishop, CA. All we had to do was find a good camp spot and lock up the trailers. In less than three hours, we're at the trailhead and ready to go.

This is our journey in pictures:

Happy about our permits

Wander women feeling fine

Annette and Lynn making their way up.

First night we ran out of daylight so we camped in a not so comfortable spot.

Mirror Lake

Sunrise greetings 

Annette making her way up the 99 switchbacks 

A view from the top

Annette resting at the top. Super cold!!

Annette and Kristy at the top

Annette and Kristy at the top of Mount Whitney. Yippee