Mount Whitney High Sierra Trail Hike
Trip
Pictures
Trip Summary (August 2003): (Links go to pictures)
This was another backpacking trip with my Boy Scout troop. From Crescent Meadow
to Whitney Portal along the High Sierra Trail. We started pretty early at
Crescent Meadow in Sequoia and headed for 9-mile creek, our first destination
for the hike. We hiked along the valley with Panther Creek far below us and the
Great Western Divide on the other side of the valley. That first day we saw a
lot of wildlife. Andrew almost ran into a bear cub, didn't see the mother so he
slowly walked away. Then also at that stop Mike almost sat on a
rattle snake.
So after that bit of excitement we headed to 9-mile creek and set up camp. Then
after a while at camp a bear and her cub (I think there was a cub) came through
the camp. It didn't get aggressive or get into anything. Before the bear came
we went for a "swim" in the creek. It was very cold, so we quickly got out.
The next day our destination was Hamilton Lake. We started off along the
valley again. Stopped at Bearpaw ranger station for a picture then went on.
Not a lot of interest this day, although we did come to a great spot to see
the canyon we came up. It was a long steep climb that lasted most the
day. We came to a new bridge over a creek that was in a
narrow canyon. The old
bridge was down below on the rocks. This was the first day we would be above
the timberline. We got to
Big Hamilton Lake and set up camp.
Day 3: one of our first big climbs. We had to go over Kaweah Gap, on the Great
Western Divide to get to Big Arroyo Junction. Along the trail we came along a
canyon where a bridge used to be and now the trail went around a short ways
and through a tunnel. We got to Precipice Lake around lunch time. I wish I
took a picture of the lake, it was pretty nice. After lunch we headed up for
the gap. We went through some small meadows and finally came to the gap. The
other side of the gap was very interesting. The valley was a shallow parabolic
shape. Going down was interesting too because there were now trees at first,
then some small trees appeared and slowly got bigger. So we got to our
campsite and set up for another night.
Day 4: I woke up and found frost on my tent. I think it got down to about 26
that night. I didn't have any problem sleeping w/ my 0 degree bag. Our
destination was
Moraine Lake. So we had to go back up after going down the
previous day. This was a fairly short day with little excitement a long the
trail. We got to the lake probably around 2 or 3 o'clock and set up camp. The
lake was very beautiful, a great place to camp and to swim in. There was a
great sunset reflected on the lake.
Day 5: Destination was originally Kern Hot Springs, but changed to Junction
Meadow. I think we got our first view of Whitney along the trail. It was far
away, so a little hard to tell. The trail was pretty level until we got to
Kern Canyon. We went down that steep descent pretty fast then started up the
canyon. We had lunch at the hot spring. I was disappointed by the spring. it
was small and was worse than the one at
Blaney Meadow
from one of my previous backpacks. The location was great
however; very beautiful. So then we started up the canyon again. after a while
of hiking we were wondering where it got level, it was actually quite a climb
up that canyon. We did 17 miles that day and were finally relieved when we got
to camp.
Day 6: Destination: Crabtree Meadow. Another day of up. Started up the canyon
wall that morning. the trail wasn't too steep. We came to a beautiful meadow
above the canyon and stopped for a picture. got to Crabtree and set up camp.
Another beautiful meadow. We met some guy (forgot his name) and his family there,
we would be seeing a lot of them the next couple days.
Day 7: Destination: Guitar Lake. This was the day before our ascent up
Whitney. We passed Timberline Lake, another beautiful lake along the trail. I
could now defiantly see Whitney towering above us. We got to Guitar Lake
shortly afternoon and set up camp. We set up a tarp when some clouds came and
looked like it might rain. We played Hearts for awhile. That was the game of
the trip. This was the first place where there wasn't a bear box, so had to
use my container. Also there had been pit toilets most of the way, so not much
digging was required. After we were at camp for awhile we started to see people
start to come over the hill. And they just kept coming for about 20 minutes or
so. And ironically someone had brought a guitar to Guitar Lake. So we went to
sleep. There wasn't any rain that day.
Day 8: Destination: Trail Camp. This was our last day of up. We started up in
the shade of the ridge. Some people with very stripped down packs literally
ran ahead of us. The climb was surprisingly short and wasn't very hard either.
We got to the junction to the Whitney Portal Trail, ditched our backpacks and
headed up to the
summit. I got there ahead of everyone as usual, I think I
waited for about half hour for the first of them to appear. We stayed at the
top for awhile and enjoyed the
views
from the top. We started to go down and found a pit
toilet up there. Has to be the best view you can get ;). We went down and got
our packs and headed down to trail camp. It started to cloud over and about at
Trail Crest it started to sprinkle a little. About halfway down it started to
rain and by the time I got down to Trail Camp it was pouring. It rained for
about an hour or so. thunder stuck some near by peaks and there were a few
small rockslides. After the rain stopped we tried to dry everything out as
much as we could. Everything was soaked. And I just happened to forget my
emergency poncho on this trip, so my sweatshirt was soaked. Went to bed in a
damp sleeping bag. luckily it didn't get too wet.
Final Day: Destination: Whitney Portal. Woke up and to a sunny day. We tried
to dry some more stuff off before packing it up. After packing we headed down
the mountain. We made a few short stops a long the way. Our finally short break
was at Outpost Camp. I ran out of trail food there, but didn't matter. After
that we went straight down the mountain without any more breaks and arrived at the
trail head shortly before noon. After we had been at Whitney Portal for awhile
it started to sprinkle. We went down to Lone Pine for a "real" meal at
Carl's
Jr. Then left to go back home.
External Links:
Troop Pictures