Day 53
Sunrise summit to Mt. Whitney. This was my second sunrise summit, with the first one last year when we did the John Muir Trail. We left Crabtree Meadow at 1:15am and we navigated in the dark with the aid of our headlamps. With snow covering most of the trail, we relied heavily on our GPS to guide us as soon as we left camp. Before long, we were hiking on a snow field, for the next 2 miles. I reached the junction to summit Mt. Whitney with 1.9 miles left and an hour to spare.
However, for some reason, compared to last year, I was having a much harder time doing the miles. I missed the sunrise view from the summit of Whitney, but it afforded me an amazing view of the sunrise with the view of Whitney, which I actually liked. Upon reaching the shelter at the top, which was full of snow inside, I put on my warm layers and rejoined my group.
It's always an amazing view from the top of the tallest peak in the lower 48 of the country. The view of the entire Sierra, covered in snow, is just amazing!
I'd say it's a little chill up top
The shelter up top of Whitney. Can't cowboy camp inside if bad weather comes in.
The spires are always amazing to look at.
One of my favorite view of the Sierra is the hike down from Whitney back towards the PCT.
The trip back to camp reminded me of our trip last year. It's amazing that the green grass we cowboy camped on at Guitar Lake was still covered with snow and that the lake itself was frozen. On the way down, we saw all the miles of snow we travelled in the dark. Some were actually hiking up on our way down and I just can't imagine doing it at this time, when the snow is much softer going up, and not to mention how hot it gets with the sun reflecting off the snow.
Guitar Lake, still frozen.
So fortunate to be up here.
Lots of snow, and we did this in the dark, which was better with the snow all packed.
A closer look at Guitar Lake
Lack of sleep and despite getting back in camp early in the afternoon, it was an exhausting day. Since I am not a napper, I mainly just rested inside my tent. The rest of my group decided to continue on the trail while I opted to just rest and spend another night at Crabtree Meadow. So that meant I would be hiking solo tomorrow.