HST: Day 7

High Sierra Trail: Day 7

7/16/2021

Guitar Lake - Mt. Whitney - Outpost Camp

Miles hiked: 11.3 miles

Elevation gained: 3,284 ft (11,507 - 14,505 - 10,371)

Animals seen: so many effing dayhikers

Elevation chart created on AllTrails.com

---

Jake took this pic while we slept, again, I never knew how many stars actually existed…

OMG, so early. Jake woke me up around 2am and we weren’t the first to leave for summiting. We ate brekkie (blueberry oatmeal, instant coffee, carnation instant brek mix) and broke down camp by headlight. We were on trail by 3am with the idea that we would take the necessary time for summiting, not rushing so we could acclimate and not get AMS (acute mountain syndrome aka altitude sickness) and if we got there for sunrise, added bonus. Charlotte stopped by on her way to the trail to say good morning. They plan on taking a break at the trail crest spur and wait for us to summit.

It was very cool to see all the lights on the mountain all the way up. Jake attempted to get a picture but it didn’t turn out the way he had hoped. Sleeping all afternoon yesterday must’ve helped my hantavirus because I felt night and day better than I had. I was like a kid in a candy store, bouncing along, having the time of my life not knowing what to expect ahead on the trail. We were passed by seemingly everyone, but I wasn’t about to risk getting AMS or the more severe cerebral edema (I went down a very dark internet rabbit hole prior to this trip about AMS and Mt Whitney, shudder).

We didn’t make the summit for sunrise. (Raise your hand if you’re surprised, no one? Didn’t think so.) We didn’t even make trail crest (the summit spur junction) in time for sunrise. But we got to see the valley we came from in the dawn light.

These are Sky Pilot flowers and they were everywhere on the climb to Whitney. You can see Guitar Lake in the background. Ten points to Ravenclaw if you can guess why it was called that…

Once there was light and we could see how much farther along the trail we had to go it was demoralizing. I liked the trail much better in the dark. Such. A. Slog. We finally made it to trail crest junction and were greeted by a bunch of backpacks and bear cans.

This was expected, most people drop as much weight as possible for the final push to the summit. Off Yoda went, with the bear can safely stowed next to the other bear cans. I took his brain (top, removable compartment - morbid, eh?) to use as a makeshift day pack complete with snacks, water, and first aid kit. Target brought a hiking pole and bottle of water while Jake had to show us all up and kept his whole pack sans bear can.

And up we went.

And up.

And up.

And omg it went up forever.

Seriously, I thought I was never going to reach the summit. It was like an old horror movie where the hallway starts to stretch out away from you. But made it, I did.

I reached the hut and took a breath for a half second and moved onto the plaque stating that we had, after 60 miles, after many ups and downs, after crippling sickness, and elated highs, officially completed the High Sierra Trail.

Some of us (*cough) ugly cried while on the phone to their mom, causing her to think they had died on the hike up. I wasn’t the only one ugly crying, ok? Just, maybe, the only one in our group. We spent about an hour at the summit of the highest peak in the main 48 states. We called family, texted friends, posted on the socials, sat in silence, maybe cried again... and, of course, took the celebratory group picture with the token summit sign.

Jake, me & Target

‘21 HST Trail Fam: Target, Jake, me, Charlotte, Brian & Derek

We signed the summit register.

Then we began the descent down with Brian and Charlotte.

Target gained a new trail name, the Whitney Pimp, courtesy of Brain. Couldn’t imagine how this happened...oh wait…

We reached Yoda and shed some layers. And to our awful shock, we still had another up.

Yes, up over our last pass. Our last up was a steep bastard too. Then the infamous 99 switchbacks to Trail Camp. Yes, I counted. Yes, there was exactly 99 switchbacks.

We came across the first water source about three quarters of the way down and had a pack off break right there on the switchbacks in complete sun exposure.

Trail Camp is the sess pond on the left.

The water trickled down the remaining switchbacks and I naturally slipped on one of the granite ledges and only just caught myself before landing on my ass. I’m calling it matrix-like instead of clumsy. It was also in front of a bunch of day hikers so that definitely helped my ego.

Trail Camp, what a dump. After spending a week in gorgeous, remote campsites in the backcountry we were just short of appalled at this campsite overrun with day hikers. You couldn’t pay us to get water from the small pond there. Way too crowded and no one seemed to have trail etiquette (those traveling uphill have right of way, btw).

And down, and down, and down we went. And so many rocks to walk on. And so many day hikers. At one point I was slightly ahead while the boys were, ahem. All of a sudden Jake speed hikes past me, grabbing my arm and waving me downhill looking half wild. He was muttering something about dayhiker zombie horde. Sure enough, I looked behind me at the wall of switchbacks and it was something out of World War Z with the mass wave of people climbing the wall in Israel. We thought Crabtree was a system shock, that was nothing compared to Mt Whitney trail.

All of us were hot, exhausted, and short tempered. We parked ourselves in the first shade we could find and had a very salty group moment. Our conclusions were thus. Anyone who day hikes the mileage and elevation gain to summit Mt. Whitney is ill. If you hike and play your music out loud on a speaker, you are an asshole. No one, I repeat, no one goes hiking, in nature, to listen to your shit music choices. Yes, your music sucks and so does your singing along to it. Lastly, the same dickwad that is playing their music for the whole mountain to hear also does not follow Leave No Trace principles and cuts cow paths through the scant vegetation that exists. Ok, salty moment over. On we go.

We continued further down and passed by a lake. Mirror Lake to be exact. I had read online that some had success fishing in this particular lake. It met all the necessary requirements. I set up shop while Jake and Target continued on. The fish were practically leaping out of the water to get the surface bugs and it was early afternoon. I tried my normal tricks for trout, I tried new tricks for trout, I tried reasoning with the higher power. No avail. Not even a nibble. I did overhear some people get in trouble with the park ranger about hiking without a pass. That made me feel a bit better. Day hikers, man. I’m petty like that.

I packed up my gear and continued down the trail and quickly came up to Outpost Camp. The boys had already set up camp and were napping. It was crowded but there was a nice waterfall to look at. We had a grand dinner to celebrate our last night on trail. (Bolognese and liquid cookie dough). Reminisced about our favorite and least favorite moments on trail over trail margs. We laughed, joked, and laughed some more before settling in for the night.

---

See all High Sierra Trail posts

---