jg+schmee at 14,494 ft elevation
30 sept 2010 at 11:39 am
that's me and jg at the top of mount whitney. it's one of the things we did last week when we went slumming around in the high sierras for six days to celebrate our wedding anniversary.
our trip started last saturday, when we drove to yosemite without camping reservations. a very nice ranger named suzie hurt saved our hides by phoning tuolomne meadows and reserving a campsite for us.
sunday we hiked 15 miles round trip to clouds rest, where we got a new perspective of half dome.
seen at the top of clouds rest
lunch at 9,926' elevation
on the entire hike back from clouds rest, all jg could talk about was going for a swim in tenaya lake.
brrr
old timers
seen at site c52
we did not enjoy our stay at tuolomne meadows. the campground was thoroughly trampled and the people were some of the worst we have ever experienced.
romantic dinner with sexy headlamp
we took it easy on monday by hiking up pothole dome. on the way we stopped by olmsted point so i could pose with the same tree every other tourist did.
colorblind outfit
choice lunch spot on top of pothole dome
scrambling up bonus dome
looking for trout in the tuolomne river
tuesday morning tuolomne meadows closed for the season so we moved our camp to porcupine flat. then, at around 9 am, we began hiking out to north dome. on the way we stopped by indian rock to see the arch.
half dome under arch
the most difficult part of the entire hike was the spur up to indian rock. it didn't help that the temps were hovering around 80.
jg loves this butterscotch pine
jg through a very small arch
schmee on north dome
swollen fingers
after the 10+ mile round trip hike, we headed directly for tenaya lake...
...where jg dived around and i washed my head.
water+wine
porcupine flat was a bit less trampled but the people were a lot more agreeable. even so, we were approached by a european woman who felt entitled to sharing our camp site.
site #44, complete with alien
wednesday morning we left yosemite for lone pine. the entire drive was very scenic.
tioga lake
first glimpse of the mountain
we scored a very nice spot at the whitney portal family campground. actually, the entire campground is beautiful and well kept. even the pit toilets didn't stink. truly impressive.
we went to bed at about 6:30 but neither of us could sleep very well because of the warm temps. we got up at 1:30 and i could swear it was 65 degrees outside.
2:48 am at the trail head
jg's pack weighed in at 25 pounds. mine, 10, not including the ten pound camera i carried around my skinny little neck.
sunrise at 6:20
we hiked at a much better pace than i had anticipated, mostly because jg was carrying all the water. we stopped to have power snacks regularly.
powering up at trail camp right before the 97 switchbacks
gu and gu powder courtesy the race director. this is the first time i have ever had gu in any form. i never thought i'd be such a fan of this advanced nutrition stuff.
at about mile 10, we experienced a bit of a snow flurry. except it was perfectly sunny so we pressed ahead. it did occur to me how bummed i'd be if i had to turn around because of the weather.
at the top at 11:37 am
sign the registry
note the sky falling down in the distance
we spent less than 30 minutes at the top. jg forced me to inhale some food and off we went, heading back down before those storm clouds get any closer.
scenery we missed while hiking in the dark
about half way down, just past trail camp, it began raining. i had never hiked so fast in my life, almost running. fortunately it rained very lightly and then stopped all together after about ten minutes. i was glad to resume hiking down normally. my knees were killing me.
we got back to the trail head at about 6:30, which made it a total of 15 hours and 45 minutes round trip. jg asked a fellow hiker to take our picture. i could barely stand upright for a pose.
one guy ordering two dozen breakfasts
next morning we went to the whitney portal store with the intention of having the ritual pancake breakfast except we were foiled by a mass of motocyclists. the guy to the rightmost of the picture above was the pack leader. he felt bad for having kept us waiting in line so he paid for one of our souvenir mugs. turned out to be a bunch of chp's doing a fund raising ride. the pack leader gave us his business card "in case you get pulled over by a chp." what a guy.
you know it's an extraordinary occasion when jg actually buys a commemorative tshirt. he had never been the souvenir type. look at him now!
we made our own pancakes back at camp before packing up to leave. we headed over to the alabama hills to look for the mobius arch.
awesome cactus
mount whitney should be just above jg's head in that shot except it was shrouded by the clouds. i was sad that i couldn't get the cheesy shot, but i was glad that i didn't get permit to hike this day.
schmee ruining the shot for zee germans
we stopped by the visitor center on our way out of lone pine. look at the forecast they had at 13,000 ft.
9/30 was definitely a better day
i took over two thousand pictures over the course of the week. i've weeded out a reasonable size set for flickr in case you care to see.
lunch with the duke at mt whitney restaurant
i still can't believe i got to the top of mount whitney. it's the most brutal hike i have ever done. thanks to jg for carrying the heavy stuff, to emmy for the show-and-tell, to gilcrest for the gu, to tate for the motivation, and to paul for the almost sushi party.
congratulations, your picture album attests that you two certainly know how to enjoy life, achievement and the essence of sharing those great things with a significant other. Happy anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
» from lori z
10.04.2010
congrats on the 12 years and super congrats on whitney!
» from egg
10.04.2010
Congratulations and happy anniversary! You must be in amazing shape now after all your high-altitude adventures! And GU is awesome shit, yo. I like all your souvenirs, and don't think I didn't notice that while JG eats a burger, you eat some pussy salad.
» from emmy
10.04.2010
congratulations!!! and a 15 hour round-trip?! that's AMAZING!
» from laura
10.05.2010
my goodness, congratulations on the marriage milestone and an epic hike! woohoo!
especial kudos on how you manage to pull off cute hiking wear.. as a woman i find this very hard! i must know you're secrets! do you have any favorite hiking pieces you would be willing to share? i'm always in awe of your outfits when you're out hiking the mountains :] love those leggings, skirts and colors!
» from holly
10.12.2010
Awesome! Congratulations!
» submit a comment (happy 12th anniversary to us!)
