I am still not sure whether it was a bear or a burnt dry wooden log.Īll along the way between outpost camp and trail camp which is about 3.5 miles with an elevation gain of ~2000 feet, I heard the sound of few water falls flowing around and running creeks. I luckily found a way to cross that from behind a tree. I did not find any other human activities there with headlamp and it was totally dark around me. I started to panic assuming that it could be a black bear. It should be around 4am and I was scared to cross the trail. Somewhere when I was crossing Mirror lake after the Outpost Camp, I remember a thrilling moment where I saw something black in color and looked huge close to the trail. I continued my hike by following the path with my head lamp and kept on going.
Mt whitney nasa picture of the day full#
Though we hiked the day before full moon day, there were lot of trees till outpost camp and the moon night was not that useful. So I got chance to hike alone in the dark for some time and it was a terrific and exciting experience. I told them to proceed with their hike and I don’t want to slow them because of me. We started to hike in group and we maintained the group for some time and and at one point I became slow. Also use both your hiking poles while crossing. I recommend to carry extra pair of socks and wear water proof shoes, if possible carry extra shoes too. Though there are rocks on the way to cross, sometimes the water overflows the rocks and shoes could become totally wet. We have to be really careful while crossing. Within one mile of the hike there is a creek with water running in full speed. So we can decided to save an hour in our 24 hour permit window by starting to hike before 12 midnight. Moreover the permit is required only after outpost camp at 10,500 feet. Couple of my team members have already hiked Whitney and they suffered in the sun.
The reason why we started to hike that early is that the more we hike when sun is not l better it is considering the Whitney’s landscape. We weighed our backpacks and removed unwanted stuff if needed and got ready to start hiking. The thought of should I do this hike was hitting due to the anxiety caused by a mix of various reasons which you can imagine. It was 11pm we reached the trail in total darkness with the lush noise of the river flowing adjacent to the parking lot. I somehow managed to deal with those fear and we started to the hiking trail. Though sleep wise I made myself comfortable, the anxiety and fear started to hit me as the time for the hike was nearing. We woke up at 8.45pm got ready to leave for the hike from hotel room at 10pm. Luckily mix of sleep aid and NyQuil helped me in getting about 5 hours of sleep from 3.30–8.30pm.
We reached the hotel room at around 2pm packed my back pack for the hike and slept.
That night we decided to leave for the hike at 11pm. If you are planning to do acclimation hike for Whitney consider this. Apparently that day we learnt that there are many hikes in Horseshoe Meadow which raises up to 11,500 feet elevation. On Saturday 9/2 we picked up the permit from the Visitor Center in the morning and at 11am we visited the Horseshoe Meadows( ) located at 10,000 ft and spent some time exploring the area to get acclimatized. Water crossing using the logs near Lone Pine lake
0 kommentar(er)
