Yes, another adventure dayhike to the highest point in the lower 48.
Pam and I will attempt to summit Mt. Whitney on Thursday, July 17 to celebrate our first anniversary.
Thanks to Dave and Jane and the rest of the crew, we will be camped at #44 at Whitney Portal to acclimate and become neighbor friendly with the black bear that frequents that campsite often.
We will start at zero dark thirty, make our way up the gazillion switchbacks, swat hungry divebombing mosquitoes, and huff and puff in the thin atmosphere on our way up to the top. We figure it will be a 16 hour day.
Although Pam and I have been training, we will see how we hold up to the altitude. None of our training runs or training hikes attained 10,000 feet. The highest we got was around 8,000 feet and that isn't good enough.
On our way over to the Eastern Sierra, Pam and I will stop at Tuolumne Meadows to camp and to hike some of the trails up there. I for one have never been to TM, but Pam has. I am looking forward to seeing this majestic place. I do expect the smoke from the fires will obscure much of the beauty.
After pitching camp, Dave, Jane, Pam and I will go to Horseshoe Meadows (10,000') to get our red blood cells ready for our Thursday hike. We will get our fill of a Portal Pancake in the morning and later in the day indulge ourselves with a Portal Burger and Fries.
