I had been concerned about the heat (Lone Pine was predicted to be 98 degrees today). Turns out I shouldn’t have worried. As we went up the temperature went down. Also, the clouds rolled in, and occasional rain fell. I took my jacket on and off all day. I never changed my hiking pants to shorts, but I never felt obliged to pull out my rain pants either. That was an important lesson – given the weather report, I had thrown my jacket into the car as an afterthought (just because I had been told to never hike without rain clothes). If I had decided not to, it would have been a much more miserable day.
What surprised me most about the hike was how beautiful it was. The lower level was full of streams, lakes, flowers, birds, etc. As we got up into the “moonscape” section — above the tree line – the views became spectacular.
Start
Elevation: 8,360′
Elevation gained: 0′
Miles: 0
Adrian & Allison’s time: 0
We started in the dark. I thought 4 AM would be an early start, but we had to park in the overflow parking lot. (Whitney Portal campground is about 1/2 mile from the trailhead, so we drove there.)
I enjoyed hiking in the dark, and as the sun came out, we watched the sunrise. The mountains were white and reflected the red light.
Lone Pine Lake
Elevation: 9,900′
Elevation gained: 1,160′
Miles: 2.4
Adrian & Allison’s time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Having these intermediate points to aim for was nice. Adrian wrote down the time each of us arrived at each point.
As the sun came up, the birds started to sing – and I noticed my camera battery was dying. I tried to conserve it, but it soon quit altogether. At the top, it had revived enough to take pictures, and I took some on my way down. So most of these pictures were from Adrian and the afternoon.
Outpost Camp
Elevation: 10,400′
Elevation gained: 2,040′
Miles: 3.6
Adrian & Allison’s time: 2 hour 15 minutes
Mirror Lake
Elevation: 10,640′
Elevation gained: 2,280′
Miles: 4.0
Adrian & Allison’s time: 2 hour 40 minutes
Trailside Meadow
Elevation: 11,400′
Elevation gained: 3,040′
Miles: 5.0
Adrian’s time: 3 hour 10 minutes
Allison’s time: 3 hour 30 minutes
Lots of people camping here. Nice meadow with a stream running through it. By this time the swallows were skimming the tops of the grass. Birds in full chorus. A pheasant was wandering along the trail.
Trail Camp
Elevation: 12,000
Elevation gained: 3,640′
Miles: 6
Adrian’s time: 4 hours, 5 minutes
Allison’s time: 4 hours, 50 minutes
Even more people camping here. The animals were used to being fed by people – marmots, chipmunks, and birds came right up and demanded food.
Even though, technically, we were more than halfway through our climb, it had been relatively easy up to now, although I had started to lag noticeably behind Adrian. He waited at each point — otherwise he would have been to the top much faster.