Mount Whitney Hike
Summary and Stats
Location: Mt. Whitney, Eastern Sierra Nevada, CA, USA
Trail: Mt. Whitney Trail
Length: 21.4 mi (34.24 km)
Total Ascent: 6,673 ft. (2,033.93 m)
Difficulty: Very Hard
Total Time: 13:16 hrs (moving), 17:07 hrs (total)
Starting Elevation: 8,374 ft. (2,552.36 m)
Highest Elevation: 14,505 ft. (4,421.12 m)
Date of the hike: June 10, 2021
Guide: Mt. Whitney Hike - The HikingGuy
Mt. Whitney, at 14,505 ft. is the highest point in the lower United States and this hike is on almost every hiker’s bucket list. With good preparations, an excellent team and a perfect weather day, this hike was one of the best experiences of my life. The hike took me longer than I had expected, but fortunately, all went smooth. While some prefer to split the hike into 2 days, we did this as a day hike.
Here, I am going to talk about my experience when preparing for and during this hike. This is not meant to be a guide (The guide is linked above).
An adventure like this is as much of a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge. I wasn’t there to conquer Mt. Whitney; I was not going to challenge the nature. I wanted to enjoy my journey in harmony with the nature while I appreciated the opportunity, the ability and the support. I wanted to make sure that at all times I was aware of my body signals and made it back safe and sound. I think this mindset played a big role on the day of as I didn’t find myself worried or stressed at any moment. I absolutely enjoyed my experience of being out there and celebrated my success, first of reaching the peak and then for making it back to the base in good health.
Preparation
Like for any challenging mission or for something that is very important to you, a good preparation can be the differentiator. Hiking Mt. Whitney requires a lot of preparation. Since we were doing this hike as a day hike, the margin of error was very narrow. It is said that one in three people who attempt this hike make it to the peak. First of all, it is a long hike with a good amount of ascent. The altitude factor plays a big role. I live in Southern California, at the sea level; the trailhead for this hike is at 8000+ ft., the peak at 14,505 ft. — it is not easy to acclimatize to this altitude quickly. The day hike was going to be long, so nutrition and the hydration had to be planned well. I didn’t want to carry too much weight. But at the same time, I didn’t want to run out of food or water. I am not a super athlete, nor have I been working out regularly, so I had to ensure a good endurance training.
The preparation can be very solid, but during the hike, self-awareness plays the biggest factor. One needs to know when to turn back as rescue effort in such a place can take quite long; uncertain if the weather is bad.
One of our teammates was heading the planning, and she planned three hikes to prepare for the Mt. Whitney hike.
Week 1 — Mt. Lukens (9.5mi, ~3,000 ft. ascent and the peak at 5,800 ft.)
Week 2 — Mt. Baldy via Old Baldy Trail (13mi, ~5800 ft. ascent and the peak at 10,066 ft.)
Week 3 — Mt. Wilson (extended route) (16.6mi, ~5600+ ft. ascent and the peak at 5,712 ft.)
Week 4 — Rest
Week 5 — Mt. Whitney hike.
In addition to this I did an hour of stretching + treadmill on an incline workout 3 times a week. I learned of an excellent stretch routine for the final two hikes, which I did almost daily and on the mornings before the hikes and light stretching after the hike. I also got into a habit of icing mostly the leg muscles after the hike. This made the recovery much faster and pleasant.
Over the last year working towards a better mental health, I have learned to be a lot more aware of the physical signals of my body in addition to learning to understand the emotions. During the preparatory hikes, I paid a lot of attention to how my critical muscle areas felt when they were exhausted or sore or started to cramp. I needed to know whether I was hungry, dehydrated, injured or tired. I was also monitoring my breathing patterns and my heart rate. If I would notice any injury or shortness of breath or consistently high heart rate that would not recover quickly on rest, those would be the strongest signals to turn back. If I was feeling tired then I needed to evaluate the level of exhaustion and whether it was time to turn back or just rest, recharge and re-hydrate. I was also monitoring my emotions — if I wanted to push through, was I doing so out of ego or pride? Or was it after calming down and evaluating the physical signs and vitals?
Getting to the Hike
GPS address to the trailhead: Mt. Whitney Trailhead, Whitney Portal, CA, 93545, USA
Whitney Portal is about 13 mi from Lone Pine, CA and a 4,000 ft. elevation difference from the town. Lone Pine is a small town on CA-395, and is basically the base for hikes around the area.
We planned to camp at the Whitney Portal Campground the night before the hike. This would ensure that we get a decent time at the altitude before starting the hike and we only have a couple of minutes to drive up to the trailhead. We got to Lone Pine the afternoon before the day of the hike.
I had never camped before, so this was an interesting experience. I had to ensure that I had packed my stuff well enough to leave me decent space to put my sleeping bag in the back of the car. We ensured that we had our dinner early enough so that we were ready to sleep by 8:30p. We had been monitoring the weather forecast and were expecting a beautiful day.
The Hike
I woke up at 3a and did some basic stretches in the back of the car. Stepping out of the car and looking at the sky I felt I was covered by a blanket of stars; incredibly beautiful! No light pollution! The air was crisp and the temperature in lower 40s. I had my breakfast and drank a glass of electrolyte solution.
We started the hike at ~4:20a. This was also my first time hiking in the dark with the headlamps. I was with a couple of experienced hikers that I trust, and had taken their word and didn’t practice hiking in the dark. The light emitted by these headlamps was incredible and I realized that a short period of time hiking with the lights was no more risky than the normal hike.
It didn’t take too long to realize that this was not going to be an easy hike. Within first couple of minutes my heart rate jumped to 165 and then was sustaining in 160s and lower 170s. I knew that if I was to increase my chances of making it to the peak, I had to slow down. I wasn’t going to be able to keep up at the pace of the rest of my team. This was the first critical decision gone right.
One of the most beautiful period was watching the sunrise — the rising sun and the watching it rise on the mountains. I quickly found my rhythm and my emotions had transitioned from concern to joy. I have started regular gratitude prayers since mid last year and since then I have been able to focus more on appreciating the opportunities and the blessings. This has not just helped me overcome major anxiety but also enabled me to enjoy the moment I am living, I am starting to experience The Power of Now.
My focus had changed from the thought of making it to the peak to enjoying the incredible beauty of nature — the views, the sound of walking on the trail, the sound of the breeze, and the sounds of birds; I was completely detached from the worries of tomorrow and the concerns of yesterday. I would stop and look around to soak in the beauty of these views at and from 8,000 ft., 10,000 ft., 12,000 ft… the mountains, the valleys, the lakes, the rocks, the snow … these views are unmatched and I was being thankful for this opportunity and the ability to be here.
The trails are very well kept, the weather was just beautiful — from late 20s to early 40s and following a dry season, there was not much snow on the trails. However, there were a few patches where one had to walk through the snow. Having grown up in Western India and then having spent my adulthood in the warm Southern California, any encounter with snow is super exciting and exaggeratedly adventurous to me!
It is 10.6 mi from the start of the trailhead to the summit. I think it was at 7.5 or 8 mi that I finally realized that I am going to make it to the peak. I took a quick break to do the math. I was probably going to reach the summit at 2:30p or 3p as opposed to first anticipated 1p at the latest. The decision when starting the hike was that if we knew we would not make it to the summit by 1p then we should turn around. But at this time, I was feeling great physically and mentally. On the way back, there were some patches of even surface on the trailhead which I could jog to save some time. I calculated that a 7h return trip would bring me back to the base by 10p. This meant that I was going to hike for about 90 mins in the dark at the tail end of the hike when I was going to be most tired. My teammates were quite ahead of me by now. I decided that I will keep going and face this decision when I meet them on their way back.
I met my teammates about a mile from the summit. It was 1:50p by now and I still had a steep last mile to go. They were justifiably concerned about me wanting to continue. Just about 10 mins before I met them, I had done a review of all the things: breathing was going easy, the heart rate was being maintained in 130s and 140s, no headache, no swelling — altitude was not being a problem. My footing was being solid, no tripping or imbalance, major leg muscle areas were feeling the effort but no cramps or tightening of any areas — I was good with strength. I had more than enough food, I was going to have enough water to reach the summit and then some more until I reached a stream of water on my way down. I had a power-bank that I would use to recharge the headlamp battery; my experience hiking the initial part of the trail in darkness was pretty smooth, the trail was also wider and more even. If I pushed myself, I could make it to the peak by 2:30p, start my descend at 3p and reach the base between 8:30p and 9:30p based on how I felt. I knew I wanted to go. I promised my teammates that I would message them every hour about my status until I reached the base. Very hesitantly and with a look of disapproval they moved on with their descent.
I took a moment, felt thankful to have teammates whom I have only known for less than three months show such a genuine care. I went through all the math once again before I decided the direction of my next step, “I can do it, I know it, I feel it”.
At 2:30p I summited Mt. Whitney. I had found a new rush of energy and had powered through the last mile without a break. There is an absolutely different energy at the top with the folks who made it. The cheer, the joy, the pride, the smiles on people’s faces!
It was time for the time to stop! Look around, admire the beauty of nature, enjoy the views from the highest point in the contiguous United States, once again be thankful for this opportunity, the ability and for things to just work out so far. I remember mostly every moment of being up there! It was now the time for a few celebratory pictures, some rest, lunch, some chit chat with the folks around and then start the second half of the hike.
Probably the most surprising thing was that the cell signal at the summit is perfectly strong. I was updating my status via the Garmin InReach Satellite Communication system, and my wife, a few colleagues and friends were following the progress and sending some encouraging messages. But with the cell signal available, it was time to call the wife! I had a quick chat with her, which probably was more effective than all the food and water I consumed up there. I let her know that I was feeling great and anticipated to be at the base by 9pm.
At 3p, I started the descend. On the way down, I decided to refill my water from the snow up there. I soon found out that it was tricky to get the snow into my water filter pouch. I spent way too much time filling up the filter bag and a bottle. Then a little while later, when I decided to filter that water, I realized that the temperatures were still in low 30s and the stored snow had not melted a bit. I noticed that if I took smaller sips, I could easily make it to the point where I could fill up from one of the streams of water going down the mountain. Trying to fill the water from those tiny streams was another struggle and another good 15 mins spent. But I got enough water to use until I reached the bottom of the 99 switchbacks and could refill from one of the lakes down there. That kind of worked out. By the time, I was done filling up the water from the lake, filtering and transferring to the water bladder, I had spent an additional hour in this refill process. I thought that if this was one thing that wasn’t going to go with the plan, and if there were no other issues, I would consider myself super lucky. So far I had been able to maintain a good pace coming down and my body felt in a great condition. Once again, it was time to do some math and update my wife — I was feeling good, had everything I need and I would be down by 9:30p.
The rest of the journey was uneventful and went pretty much according to the plan. I reached the trailhead at 9:30p having jogged most of the last 3 miles. I stopped, looked back and this is when it dawned to me that I had made it to the top and back in one day and in good health.
I drank a 16oz. glass of electrolyte solution and some more water as my brain was processing through a ton of thoughts. I had given myself a 5% chance when I first committed to this hike, and now I had just completed the hike to Mount Whitney and back!
I drove down to Lone Pine, went to a gas station and grabbed 16 lbs. of ice and drove to the hotel for the night — The Best Western Plus in Lone Pine. I emptied the ice bags in the bath tub and iced my feet and the legs. I called my wife, shared my joy and celebrated this achievement. I did some basic stretching and massaged the quads, the hamstrings and the calves with the portable massage gun. My body was ready to crash, but I have learned how important this post hike routine has been for the recovery. My body was exhausted but my brain was super charged; it took me a long time to fall asleep.
I was really proud that I put my learning to practice — I was able to enjoy the journey, I was not concerned about external validations or disapproval on whether I summited the peak or not; it was my journey. I was more self-aware than I have ever been, was confident and cautious. I knew that I have a family waiting and my decisions have to be rational and if in any doubt, I would take the conservative option. Yet I did not find myself being weighed down by this attachment and my responsibilities. My brain was mostly filled with appreciation of being there and gratitude of the life I have and the people in my life. It was more of a compressed journey of life than a hike. I felt in harmony with the nature.
Next time I will hike Mt. Whitney in 2 days to allow the time to camp in the mountains and enjoy the sunset, the night sky and the sunrise, and to give myself more time to stop and enjoy the views even more.
