Contents: 14.8 miles round trip for Whitney plus 1.1 miles to Crabtree Meadow Camp
PCT Thru-Hiking: The best Mt. Whitney training plan ever! I had an excellent day today. I felt great. I left camp a little before 6 and was on the summit of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the Lower 48 by 10:30. The hiking was beautiful. The route itself was a simple walk up with just one tiny snow patch. You can do it! We passed several lakes including Timberline Lake and Guitar Lake. I was slack-packing and felt like I was floating up the mountain at times. About two miles before the summit, the trail I was on intersected the route coming from Whitney Portal, one of the main routes to the summit, and from this point on I encountered many day hikers. I know most of the thru-hikers near me, but regardless, PCT-ers were easy to pick out of the crowd. There's something about our running shoes, rain pants instead of hiking pants, full beards (still working on mine!) huge empty packs, and our looks of confidence that can only come from 770 miles on the trail that are dead giveaways. I don't usually feel like an amazing hiker out here, but blowing by the day hikers was a welcome reminder of how strong we've become. I know we all felt this way. We're certainly a motley crew, but we've figured out this hiking thing.
On the way down from the summit, I ran into Wash Out who was on his way up. Wash Out had hiked back to back 30 and 35 mile days just to catch up to our posse! I couldn't believe it! He had rolled in around 11:30 the night before and set up a base camp just below our camp. We made plans to rendezvous at the bottom, and we're currently camped together about a mile from the ranger station I camped at last night. Definitely looking forward to walking together.
I'm super tired and off to bed. We'll hit Forester Pass tomorrow. At 13,353 feet, Forester Pass is the highest point on the PCT. From there, it'll be down hill to Canada! Can't wait!
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