It was an adventure with as many twists and turns as there were switchbacks on the trail to the summit. I just got back after a long overnight drive , after summiting
Mt Whitney.
At about 14,500 feet, Mt Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous states of the USA (the lower-48 states). The Mt Whitney Trail starts at 8300 feet from Whitney Portal and is 11 miles long to the summit, making it a 22 mile round-trip hike, with over 6500 feet in elevation gain. Every year thousands of people apply for the "Mt Whitney Lottery", as the permits are few and the seekers many. This year a friend of mine had applied for the lottery, but we didn't make it. But thankfully, I re-applied for the "left-over slots" and I was granted 4 permits for 07 Sep, for a day hike !
The permits are usually open from early April to late October and the demand is higher for multi-night trips. The reason being - Acclimatization. For the uninformed, at such altitudes, many can experience Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) and it is important hence, to
acclimate before venturing out on such hikes. But since I was only granted permits for a day-hike, it was going to be a challenge even before it started.
I had everything (well almost) planned out well in advance. Had explained to my hiking buddies the risks involved, the trail conditions, the gear list and the plan. I had booked campsites at Lone Pine campground, which was about 6 miles from the trail head. It is a 7 hour long drive to the town of Lone Pine, via US 395, through Tioga Pass Rd (Yosemite) from the San Francisco Bay Area. The Tioga Pass Rd rises up to an elevation of 10,000 ft towards the end, at the ranger station, before merging on to US 395 (elevation ~ 7000 ft) and since my old car had some difficulty in climbing up this road the last time we were here, I decided to go in my friend's much newer car. But seems like I was mistaken and here is where we had the first "twist" in the story !
It was all hunky-dory until we crossed the ranger station on Tioga Pass Rd, on Sunday evening. We had decided to spend about an hour by the Tioga Lake (elevation 9000+ ft) to acclimatize a little, and we did, but when I got back to the car and tried to start it, it wouldn't. It indicated that the battery was low. As always, AT&T is the least reliable of any cellphone carriers, and we had no signal on our iPhones. We could have walked to the ranger station about 2 miles up the road and used the call phone there, but much to my annoyance, my friend neither had his insurance papers nor was he sure if he had road-side assistance coverage. While we were evaluating our options, he asked an old lady in a van near by, if she had any jump-start cables and if she could help us. Thanks to that good old lady (there are many such Samaritans here in the US) she helped us jump-start our car. We were still wondering how could the battery have drained out all of a sudden. My friend declared it could have "just happened" and was confident that it would recharge itself as we drive.
We took off from there and got to the Mobil station at the end of Tioga Pass Rd and decided to fill our tank, but before I could warn my friend, he switched off the engine and lo! It wouldn't start again! This time the owner of the gas station was our good Samaritan. He biked for couple of minutes and brought his truck and the jump start cables. By then I had googled for AAA towing service nearby and learned that there was one in the town of Lee Vinning, which was about a mile away. The good Samaritan also informed us that there was a station mechanic in Lee Vinning who could replace car batteries. So we drove to Lee Vinning and explained the problem to the mechanic. He immediately suggested that we replace the battery. My clueless friend also thought that was the best thing to do. But then as the mechanic was pouring through his battery catalog, we learned that the car's battery was replaced only about 2 years back and technically it should last for 84 months (from its specs). When we told him about this, the guy said he wouldn't know (wtf ?!). He then examined the circuitry and declared that it wasn't the battery, but the alternator that was at fault, which was why the battery wasn't charging. He told us that he could order a replacement, but that won't happen till Tuesday as Monday was labour day. He also discouraged us from driving out of Lee Vinning at night (lights would consume the remaining battery) and suggested we find a place to stay in that town for the night. He also told us it was unlikely that we'd find any mechanic shop nearby who'd be open on Labour Day.
By now, we had also found out that all the motels (which is like 4) in Lee Vinning were full. Luckily there was an RV park nearby where I could call and book 2 tent sites (thankfully we had tents with us). We pitched out tents and then started evaluating our options.
1) Call up a friend and ask him pick us up. Leave the car @ Lee Vinning, to be fixed by the mechanic on Tuesday. Skip Mt Whitney.
2) Charge the car's battery, carry a spare (with tools) and take a chance driving back to San Francisco in the morning. Skip Mt Whitney.
3) Get an iPhone charger (we were running out of charge), use the wireless in the RV Park to search for mechanic shops in nearby towns, who were open on Labour Day and who could replace/fix an Alternator and if by some miracle that could happen, try to continue with the Whitney plan.
Evidently, the chances of continuing with the Mt Whitney plan was very bleak. We got a charger from a nearby gas station and incidentally while asking the shopkeeper for suggestions, we stumbled on this AAA tow-truck driver who informed us that his store in Reno, NV was open on Labour Day and they could replace an alternator. This raised our hopes and we thought perhaps Whitney was a possibility, albeit a distant one. Our plan was to go charge our battery the next morning from the local mechanic and try and make it to Reno, which was about 132 miles away, before the battery drained out.
Next morning, I had called up the Interagency Visitor Center of Inyo National Forest and informed them that there were only 3 in our group (there by releasing the 4th permit for someone else, if they were waiting) and that I'd like a night-drop-box pick up of the permits, as we were running late. The mechanic charged our battery for about an hour and we were all set to drive to Reno (and barely make it before the auto service shop there closed at 2 pm) when we discovered the car wouldn't start again. This made the mechanic examine the situation further and conclude that it was the battery that was fault and he suspected that it had short-circuited, thereby not allowing itself to get charged again. He replaced the battery and confirmed that everything was fine now (the alternator was all fine) and we should be good to go. This brought back a smile on our faces (although I still wasn't sure if his diagnosis was right, but hell, the car seemed fine and we were going to give Whitney a shot again!).
We reached Lone Pine, I went and collected our permits and poop-bags (you are supposed to poop in a bag and pack it out , should you have to answer nature's call in the Mt Whitney Trail :-D ), we devoured some burritos for lunch and head to the Lone Pine Campground (elevation: 5700 ft). I was afraid they'd have canceled my reservation as we didn't show up the previous day. Thankfully, our campsite was still good and we went and pitched our tents. It was very hot and the terrain around us was plain desert. We were told that there were rattle snakes all around (hunting for mice/chipmunks
). We stashed our food in bear-proof lockers and then decided to drive to Whitney Portal campground (elevation: 8300 ft), which was where the Mt Whitney Trail started. Our original plan (before running into car troubles) was to hike up to Lone Pine Lake on the Mt Whitney Trail (elevation: 10,300 ft) and spend couple of hours there to acclimate. But now we had but 2 hours in all. We hiked up the trail for about 45 minutes, spent couple of minutes sitting there and we returned. We had decided to get up early next morning (Tuesday) around 1 am, and start the hike by 2 am. According to some estimates on other hiking blogs, a fast hike up to the summit would take 5 hrs, a moderate would take 8 and a slow hike would take 11. So we thought we should be able to get back by 2 pm (grossly underestimated).
Things went like clockwork that night, we dozed off for a while, woke up at 1 am, packed out tents, had some bread and fruits for a quick breakfast and drove to the trail head. It was 3 am by the time we started our hike. We had already concluded that we cudn't stay as a single group and yet complete the hike by 2 pm like we had initially thought, based on our "acclimatization" hike the previous day. My friend V (whose car we had drove in) was pretty slow and inexperienced. My other friend VK and I had given clear instructions to V on what should be done and we discussed general protocols and precautions for everyone. There were about a dozen people assembling near the trail head by then, all ready to start the hike.
We started precisely at 3 and soon VK and I were ahead of the rest of the gang. We overtook several other hikers along the way and reach Lone Pine Lake (2.8 miles from Trail Head, 10,300 ft) in 70 minutes. That was a good pace. However, as we began to gain elevation, I began to slow down. I had to take pictures, I could only sleep for 2 hours the previous night and I had annoying bouts of head-aches (mild AMS symptom) and all of this was contributing to my slowing down. About over an hour later, I reached Trail Camp (which is where the multi-night hikers camp before ascending to the summit the next day). This place was like a Wind Tunnel. Although weather forecasts indicated it was going to be a bright and sunny day, there were fast chill gusts and winds blowing through this region. I had to put on my gloves and Balaclava by now. The next 2 mile stretch was agonizingly slow, by some counts, there are a total of 99 switchbacks from this point, to the summit.
By this time, couple of other hikers, many whom I had overtaken in my first 3 miles, were going past me. The trick to climbing up the trail at such altitude is to take small and slow steps, while maintaining a steady heart-beat. It was something I could never do. I have never been the one who climbs a flight of stairs patiently, I had to always run. This inability was crippling me. For every 20-30 feet I ascended rapidly, I had to catch my breath, it was worse at times that I had to sit on a rock to get enough oxygen, before ascending again. The annoying headache had to be contained through 2 doses of Ibuprofen. By this time VK had gained couple of hundred feet more than I had and he was beginning to disappear from my line of sight. It was day break by then and I could see the brilliant golden orange rays of the sun, bouncing off the rocky walls of the Sierras. It was beautiful and I clicked several shots.
After couple of more agonizing hours of dragging my feet along, I reached Trail Crest (elevation:13700 ft). I was delighted. For it was only 700 more feet to climb, over 2 miles (or so I thought!). Turns out that the trail descends about 400 feet from Trail Crest to the John Muir Trail Junction. 400 feet at this altitude, without proper acclimatization seemed like climbing a vertical mile! The last 1.9 mile stretch to the summit was the most strenuous of all. There was a blast of chilly wind between the "Needles" next to Mt Whitney, but the views from there were beautiful. By now I had learned the art of taking slow and small steps and getting into a rhythm. I took over 2 hours to cross this stretch and get to the summit. It was 11 am, sharp, when I reached the summit. It had taken me 8 long hours to summit. I saw VK there, who was shivering in cold. He didn't bring his jacket or gloves or a beanie! It seems he had reached the summit an hour before I did (around 10 am) and he was trying to get warm in the stone hut on top. I suggested he descend immediately before he froze and sent him off.
I had some other hikers shoot some pictures of me> I ate some trail nuts and an apple for lunch and began my descent at 11:40 am. While Sheldon Cooper's "Gravity Thou Art a Heartless Bitch" is right for the most part, there can be no better friend than Gravity during the descent! All you need is strong knees and a great sense of balance (part of which perhaps I inherited and part of which I nurtured as a kid), and you can literally run down the trail. Unlike many other trails, the Mt Whitney trail is built on solid rocks. It has a lot of big and small boulders all along the trail making it ideal for downhill-parkouring :-). I was galloping down the trail. I cleared the switchback section alone in 20 minutes and got to the trail camp in 1.5 hours, overtaking many of the other hikers who had summited much before I did. Towards the end of the trail camp, I overtook VK, who was filling up his Camelbak with water from a stream. In 3 hours, I had reached Lone Pine Lake. The lake was beautiful and it was hard to believe I had passed through somethings so beautiful without realizing it, earlier in the morning.
It was just another 2.8 miles to trail-head and I figured I could cover that in 30 minutes, but by then my stomach was showing signs of being upset (thanks to all the water I drank from the taps and streams) and I didn't want to inaugurate my poop-bag :-). So I slowed down to a brisk walk. I reached the trail-head at 3:40 pm, 12 hours and 40 minutes after we had started the hike. I examined my feet for any blisters, but thanks to the Vaseline that I had applied on them, and to the liner I had underneath my hiking socks, my feet were okay. I rested on the rocky walls next to the trail-head for an hour when finally VK came down at about 4:45 pm. We then got into the car and took a nap, hoping for V to show up by about 6:30 pm. But there was no sign of him. It was dark already and we were worried. We thought of inquiring at the Whitney Portal Store for some Park Ranger's number but the store had closed at 8. There was no signal on our cellphones again ! It was 8:30 pm already and we were wondering what should we do if he doesn't show up. We got to the trail-head and wanted to inquire with the other hikers who were descending, if they'd seen V. But there weren't any hikers descending at that time. V was perhaps the last man on the trail. Finally, at about 8:45 pm, we spotted a bright LED light somewhere up the trail. We were sure it was a hiker descending and were about to approach him to inquire about V. But thankfully, behind that hiker, was V, he had finally made it back, after 17.6 hours!
The original plan was to drive back to SF, but it was too late now and given the condition in which we were, we thought it might be a better idea to check-in into a motel somewhere near Lee Vinning for the night and drive back home in the morning. But when we got to Lee Vinning at 11 pm, we still saw the same old "No Vacancy" boards in the 4 motels (seriously, you guys are completely booked even on a Tuesday night ?!). As a last resort we decided to drive back to SF instead of looking around for other motels in nearby towns. V and I took turns to drive from time to time. We even stopped at the Yosemite entrance center and took an hours nap. I drove for the most part back home as I had managed to take a quick nap after my hike. V was in no shape to drive, he was pretty confused and I'd say even non-compos-mentis! After several agonizing hours of "Driving-under-the-influence-of-Redbull", we reached SF at 8:30 am. I had to take the day off from work, to catch some sleep.
* - The words uttered by Sir Edmund Hillary to his friend, after he summited Mt Everest.
I am not Edmund Hillary and Mt Whitney is not Mt Everest, but hey, it is 0.5 time Mt Everest :-D
(14,500 ft Mt Whitney, Vs 29000 ft, Mt Everest :-D ).
