Here are my shots of the 4 days on Whitney, plus a bonus shot of our camp at Horseshoe Meadows the night before our journey started:
http://community.webshots.com/album/552527800qKKSPp
I woke up on the third day at Guitar Lake which was summit day with the worst feeling I have ever had hiking. Most folks who have hiked with me know that I can be fast when I want to be. I woke up knowing that this wasn't one of those days. I was dragging like you wouldn't believe. Shortness of breath, very much the first signs of HAPE. However, no fever, no nausea, not even a cough, just a complete shortness of breath. Never felt that on Rainier though either. Not so sure of making the summit, however, I knew I had to press on with full pack to at least the junction of the summit trail. Was about a mile behind everybody else, except for perhaps Dawn who kept pace pretty well. Anyway, got to the summit, just to keep thinking that it would be better without a pack. Those that also hike with me know that I hike with bike jerseys so I planned on simply stuffing water bottles and my camera in my back pockets for the summit and going packless.
Well, it didn't feel much easier!!!! I still had to stop for 30 seconds every 30ft or so, and the clouds were rolling in and I was afraid of a storm. But I pushed on, keep telling me that it's only like 2.1 miles up.... Got to the summit after Terri and Ed and basically collapsed and rested for a helluva long time til I thought I should get some photos.
The trip down was much easier, rest stepped and tried to conserve energy for the hike down to Trail Camp.
At trail camp, there was a spiget of conversation of trying to get down further but no way I was going to make it any farther. In fact, I skipped dinner and went straight to bed, literally shaking for 10 minutes from exhaution. Went to bed at about 6pm and woke up next morning with a persistant cough. Still no fever, no nausea, no blood or whatever in the spit. But just a nagging cough which would persist after descending the rest of the mountain and also during the Boundary Peak part. Anyway, the descent after Trail camp wasn't too bad, although any climb, I had to stop and catch my breath every 30ft!!!! Was very thankful of the numerous resting spots in the shade below treeline that we could just relax and veg for a bit. Got to Whitney Portal and enjoyed a burger and fries while we tried to figure out a ride back to Horseshoe Meadows! Thanks to Jay 2, we got a ride back and our journey continued.
Had a great trip to Whitney, not sure if there is going to be other trip reports, we got a chance to see a lot of wildlife that the main whitney trail hikers probably miss. Saw a bear, a coyote, numerous Marmots, even a deer.
Jay
