Day 52 – 6/18/11 – 17 (3 PCT) miles (769)

The best I can do to describe today is “epic”. We left camp at 6 am to summit Mt Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48 at 14,496ft. From camp to the switchbacks, we were walking on snowfields. Once we finally got the the switchbacks, the trail was obvious, but there were some snow/ice shoots cutting staight down through the switchbacks. It was either labor through cutting steps with our ice axes to cross them, or scramble up the boulders straight up the mountain, bypassing the switchbacks. We opted for the latter. It was scary. In fact, my mom wouldn’t like to have seen any of today. But it’s ok, because we’re all alive and well! (Rule #3 of the trail: Don’t die.)

We summited around 10:30 am. KBomb was already there, having left at midnight in order to arrive in time for the sunrise. The view was great, and we had a ton of fun posing for lots of silly pictures.

We headed back down around noon. It was way scarier scrambling down the boulders. After the switchbacks, we had great fun glissading. It was hard to believe we’d come up such steep slopes in the morning.
Though we were exhausted by the time we returned to camp, we pressed on. We wanted to get closer to Forester Pass (miles 778) so that we reach it before the snow turns to slushy mush in the afternoon.
Though not technically part of the PCT, Mt Whitney is sure to rank as a highlight of my thru hike.