Muse back!
July 05, 2008 / Saturday
Mt. Whitney Trip
After months of planning and training, we finally made the trip to Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,496 feet. Did we make it? I'm not telling. At least not until later.
Sunday - Off To Whitney Portal
Got off to a rough start on Sunday when I woke up at 9:19 and was told that our departure time had been moved up from noon to 10 AM. I was NOT PLEASED. Come to think of it, I'm still not pleased, but I have a lot to write, so I'll just pretend I'm pleased now and move on.
Blew through everything I had left to do, loaded up the car, stopped at TJ's so Aaron could pick up some trail mix, arrived at Loren and Esther's, loaded up the truck, and headed out around 10:30. We stopped for lunch at Quizno's, a bunch of times in Yosemite for pictures, and finally at the Eastern Sierra InterAgency Visitor Center in Lone Pine at 5:52, 8 minutes before closing.
At the visitor center, we picked up our wilderness permits, got some advice on nice day hikes in the area, and waved goodbye to modern plumbing. I also grabbed a pamphlet about abandoned mines and how they harbor radioactive mountain lions with hantavirus, explosives, and deadly gases. Or was it that the mountain lions release explosive deadly gases? In any case, they made it sound dangerous. Mission accomplished.
We bought some firewood in Lone Pine and drove up (and up, and up) Whitney Portal Road, which, as the name suggests, took us to the Whitney Portal Campground. The campsites were decent: each site had parking for two cars, a table, a fire pit, a bear locker, and room for at least two tents. The hole in the ground toilets were fairly clean as far as hole in the ground toilets go, and there was a nice stream nearby to wash off (a bit) in. The only downside was that we were near the campground hosts, who deemed themselves exempt from Quiet Hours and ran their loud freakin' generator every night between the hours of 9 PM and 2 AM.
Public service announcement for the people of the internet: the host is located between camp 37 and the restroom to its right on this here giant map. Best to camp away from there, or bring earplugs if you can't, because if you decide to go and complain about the noise, the host with the handlebar mustache will answer and quite possibly knock your fuckin' head off. His words.
Set up camp, cooked some kabobs over the fire, ate, cleaned up, put earplugs in, and went to sleep to the sound of muffled generator hum.
Monday - John Muir Wilderness Acclimation Hike
Woke up at 8 something thinking it was Sunday. Had some pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausages for breakfast, then headed out for a hike along the Cottonwood Lakes Trail. If I remember correctly, we ended up doing an out and back ~9 mile hike from around 10,000 feet to 11,000 feet. We hiked until we reached Muir Lake, which was super pretty. We ate lunch there before turning back.
On the drive back to Whitney Portal, we stopped and played on the rocks at Alabama Hills. Lots of scrambling and a bit of bouldering for those of us who were so inclined. Much fun.
After a run to the store in Lone Pine for ice and baby wipes (they didn't sell Wet Ones), we headed back to camp for a fajita dinner. Yummy. I should make these more often at home. :)
Bedtime was kind of rough. Everyone retired early, I wasn't one bit sleepy, and all I could think about was how much I wanted a shower. My Snoopy baby wipes were no match for sunblock, bug repellent, and sweat.
The generator came on, my earplugs went in, and eventually I fell asleep.
Tuesday - Rest Day
Since we had gone to bed pretty early the night before, we got up with the sun just a little after 6 AM. Breakfast was omelets, hash browns, bacon, and sausage, followed by a few hours of downtime. I read a bit about St. Petersburg and learned that (1) I can't drink the tap water there (2) I should bring my bottle of 98% DEET and (3) there are random uncovered holes in the ground that I could fall into. Gee, that really makes me look forward to my trip there later this month!
Around 11, we hiked up along the stream to Whitney Portal Trailhead to see if we could find some ice cream at the Portal Store. The trail was quite nice, and while the store had no ice cream, it had a good assortment of touristy items and hiking essentials.
We returned to camp for a make-your-own pasta salad lunch. This was followed by more downtime, which led to boredom, which caused me to gather and pile rocks near our campsite, which led to the creation of a new game: stack rocks, knock over rocks, keep score, repeat.
Dinnertime came and we had salad, pasta, and garlic bread, followed by s'mores for dessert. I roasted two marshmallows not realizing that only one was needed for a s'more, and ended up making a double decker. I foolishly ate the entire thing and promptly felt sick.
We made sandwiches for the next day and went to bed before dark. Early start tomorrow.
Wednesday - The Big Day
I had set my alarm for 3 but forgotten to turn it on. No matter; I woke up at 2:58 and counted down the seconds before waking Aaron up and turning on the light. We grabbed our stuff, drove up to the trailhead, and weighed our packs. Esther's weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds, Loren's at 18, and mine and Aaron's at 14. I had room, so I took a Gatorade and a couple other items from Esther to help distribute the load. I reweighed my pack: 16.5 pounds. We started on up the trail around 3:50.
I thought about those 16.5 pounds in the first half hour of the hike. It was noticeable and heavy. I thought about how my weight now including the pack was still slightly less than my weight at the end of my first semester of college. (Way too much cafeteria mystery meat.) I remembered that I couldn't run down the block without getting winded back then. I wasn't fat, but I was soft, full of useless weight. Now, not so much. I much prefer now to then.
We hiked, ate, and when the sun started to come up, took pictures and admired the views. We made decent time to Trail Camp, where we stopped to eat, filter water, and use the "facilities" (i.e. duck behind a remote rock). This was at 12,000 feet, and for the most part, everyone felt okay. I didn't have a huge appetite, but I did manage to finish my breakfast bagel and some trail mix.
Next up were "the switchbacks". Forget all those other switchbacks we took to get up to Trail Camp; the 96 switchbacks from here up to Trail Crest were the real deal. They're known to be tough, and they lived up to their name, especially when we got about halfway up. That's when the altitude started getting to some of us. Esther's head started hurting, so she took an Aleve. I was feeling slightly nauseated, but not too bad other than that. Our pace slowed way down and we took lots of rests, but we eventually made it to Trail Crest, at 13,600 feet. The view up here, my gosh, it was amazing. We could see over both sides of the mountain.
By this time, Esther was feeling really ill, and we stopped for a long time here to try to convince her to turn back. (I volunteered to descend with her, since I was second in line in terms of people illin'.) Her head was pounding and she couldn't hold down water or food. She refused to quit, though, and, feeling slightly better after emptying her stomach, chose to push on.
There's a bit of a descent before resuming the climb on the final stretch of trail to the summit. We made it down, then back up a ways, before stopping again. We could see the summit from where we were, but Esther felt horrible. She really didn't want to, but after much debate decided she had to turn back. She had really fought hard to get to this point; I have much respect for her "no quit" attitude.
I was feeling tired but mostly okay at this point, so Aaron and I pushed on toward the summit. We were running behind schedule, and I tried to go faster to make it to the top before our turnaround time. In retrospect, I think this really did me in. It wasn't long before I had trouble putting one foot in front of the other, felt sick to my stomach, and wobbled with lightheadedness on the jagged rocky trail with steep drops on both sides. About half a mile from the summit, I stopped to rest.
While I forced down an energy bar, Aaron kept looking at the summit and saying, "It's so far. Look at how small the people are up there." He was nervous about time, too. I asked him if he wanted to turn back but he couldn't decide. Finally, I decided. I knew I could eventually make it up there, but I wasn't sure that if I did I would be able to make it back. Dying at the summit wasn't exactly what I was trying to achieve, so there it was: we were turning back.
Remember the short descent from Trail Crest heading toward the summit? The ascent on the way back was more difficult than anything else that day. I stopped several times simply because I couldn't walk anymore, and each time I wanted to just lie down and sleep. That said, the thought of sleep scared the hell out of me, because I was afraid I'd never wake up again. That's how crappy I felt.
We eventually did make it back to Trail Crest, but the descent on the other side was no easier. While I could see okay, I couldn't process what I was seeing. My brain simply didn't have the facilities to decide where to put my feet. That, and I couldn't move very fast. (I handed Aaron an Aleve at some point, and even though I was trying as hard as I could to move my arm, watching myself hand over the pills was like watching a clip in slow motion.) I really wanted to throw up but forced myself not to; I didn't want to lose what little fluid I had in me.
After what felt like an eternity, we made it back to Trail Camp. Aaron stopped to eat while I just laid down and closed my eyes. I needed to eat, but couldn't. As we started moving again, I got a Hammer Gel from Aaron. It probably took me 15 minutes to eat.
With more oxygen and some calories in me, I started to reanimate. As we neared 11,500 feet, I picked up the pace and we booked it on down the mountain. My feet were really starting to hurt, but I really wanted to get back to camp, now that I finally believed that we were going to make it back. I'm usually very careful on trails because my ankles are prone to twists and sprains, but with my brain working again I focused hard and bounded from rock to drop to rock all the way down. I didn't even bother to slow down at creek crossings, though I did pause every couple minutes for Aaron to close the gap. How strange; I'm usually the one left behind wondering where the hell he went.
Just after 7:30, we made it back to the parking lot, where Loren and Esther were waiting for us in the truck. Total time on the trail: 15 hours, 45 minutes. We missed burgers at the Portal Store by 10 minutes, but managed to pick up some cold drinks before they closed. My feet hurt so badly I could barely walk, but I was happy to be off the mountain.
Back at camp, Aaron convinced me to eat some leftover pasta salad. It tasted blech, but I don't think anything would have tasted decent at that point. Cleaned up a bit and went to bed. It took me forever to fall asleep because my feet were throbbing, but eventually I did.
It was a long, tough day, but I did get a few positives out of it. For one thing, I got a lot better at using my poles (plant, push, balance, swing), conserving energy (smaller paces and picking intermediate stones to step up on), and maintaining momentum on the downhill (pick your steps ahead of time and just flow). For another, I really dig my gear. I have nothing but good things to say about my Leki poles, Gregory Z30 pack, Petzl headlamp, REI Sahara pants, and UA HeatGear long sleeve. Oh, and my Neutrogena spray on SPF 70 sunblock rocked. It smells nice, it's light, and I barely tanned, despite spending hours up there with the super strong sun.
Since I didn't make it to the top, I didn't get to look for the geocache at the summit. But I when I do make it, I will leave something damned good for the next finder.
What's that? I didn't suffer enough? I want to do this again? No, not this exactly. When I do it again, I want to reach the summit. Just so I know that I can.
Thursday - The Drive Back Home
Woke up around 7, ate some cereal, packed up, and loaded up the truck. We stopped by the visitor center in Lone Pine so Loren and Esther could check out some climbing books. MODERN PLUMBING, I'VE MISSED YOU SO. I used plenty of soap to wash my hands and spent the next hour huffing soapy goodness off them every few minutes.
When we reached Bishop, we made a detour to check out Buttermilks, a bouldering spot about 15 minutes outside of town. After that, we stopped at a pizza place in town for lunch.
After lunch, we continued on until the Mammoth Lakes area, when Loren remembered some nearby hot springs he had visited a few years back. We figured something so close to us while so far away from home was worth visiting, so we made a detour to check that out too. The plan was to jump in (carefully) and wash off a bit, but when we got there we found out that the hot springs had been closed for a couple years now due to "increased geothermal activity". Still, it was pretty cool to see the bubbly water and learn about what makes it hot. There were a couple guys there who had intended to go in the water, but after stepping in they found it was hotter than expected and thought better of it.
Back in the truck we went, and headed for Yosemite. We didn't make nearly as many stops as we did on our way out on Sunday, but we did pull off at Olmsted Point for a few pictures.
After Yosemite, we made one more stop for dinner at Rubio's, and then it was back to Loren and Esther's, where we grabbed all our stuff from the truck and booked it on home.
The Wrap-up
Dangit, we didn't make it to the top. Still, I'm glad for the experience. I'm also glad I didn't get stuck on the trail at 14,000 feet. I slept 12 hours the night we returned, and spent all of July 4th at home processing pictures and feeling terrible. My nose wouldn't stop running and my stomach felt queasy the entire day. Today, I feel a little better, but my stomach still doesn't want food. Not sure what's going on, but I'm making myself eat anyhow.
Tomorrow, I hope to feel better so I can go mountain biking. :)
And of course, pictures to go with this post. Here are my and Aaron's Flickr sets for this trip.
July 5, 2008 04:08 PM | Hike:Trips
Comments
Altitude sickness sucks mightily.
Posted by: Mike at July 6, 2008 04:13 PM
nice recap--and awesome pix! you'll make it all the way up next time, i'm sure.
Posted by: heather at July 7, 2008 09:43 AM
Nice recap! Never had an issue with Altitude because haven't gone higher than 9K on foot. Did HI but they haul you up in a van and you can slo mo walk at the top. Some of it comes down to pace. If you have time to aclimate it's easier to push on but I think that would have tacked on too much time for you all.
You'll get it 'cause you want to!
Posted by: Shadow at July 7, 2008 10:41 AM
This isn't a post, it's an epic! But a darn fascinating one. Thanks!
Posted by: gs at July 7, 2008 12:30 PM
congrats for making it as far as you did! and thanks for the great recap. reading all about the altitude and all makes me want to, uh, go to sleep. :-)
welcome home (at least for a bit, before you head to St. Pete!)
Posted by: cheddah at July 7, 2008 05:15 PM
You have my utmost respect for listening to your body!
Knowing you the peak will be conquered soon enough.
If you ever want to do Mt Hood lemme know. ;)
Posted by: Utena39 at July 7, 2008 11:19 PM
Wow, now I'm tired, too. Thanks for blogging all of it.
I remember watching a film of guys climing Everest a few years ago. They were plodding along, slowly placing one foot barely in front of the other. "OMG," I thought. "These are guys in GREAT SHAPE. And that's all they can do!" Wow.
Posted by: Jennie at July 21, 2008 04:14 PM