Day 52

(Originally written Thursday, June 25)

Mt. Whitney is 6.7 miles away from where we're camped tonight. We started out at Trail Pass this morning and put in another 20+ mile day. It's my third consecutive one in the Sierras where the air is thinner and everything takes longer. Tomorrow is going to be another tough one. We're currently at about 10,600' but Mt. Whitney is at 14,491', leaving us with about 4,000 vertical feet to go.

One really good thing that we've got going for us is lighter packs, though. This trip to the summit of Mt. Whitney is a side trip in addition to the PCT. So tomorrow we'll go up to the summit, then back down to where we started, meaning we can leave all the equipment that we won't specifically need for the summit hike. That includes water, some food, warm clothes, and a first aid kit. Everything else will stay at our base camp in Crabtree Meadows. The scenery here is absolutely breathtaking! This is definitely what I had in mind for the Sierras! I took some photos that I can't wait to post. The views are just amazing--green meadows with enormous sheer rock mountains jutting out of them and then capped with snow. Simply stunning.