Log: Day 119 - Mile 767.0

August 9, 2016

The long days were beginning to add up and my knees especially were unhappy about the previous day. I was slow breaking camp in the morning but was still up and at 'em fairly early. Forrester Pass was the only thing on the agenda for the morning and I was once again glad to starting the day with a climb to ward off the chill. I thought back to the photo of Strider had sent us of him standing at the top of Forrester pass 6 weeks earlier when it was fully covered in snow with no trail to follow. Things would be quite different for me.

I took a break at the top, hoping to maybe see Yak and Newton again before each of our trips ended. While I was up there a group of retired couples arrived from the south. I took some photos for them and they did the same for me. I ended up sticking around to talk with them for a while. Eventually we all began to get chilly and continued on.

After almost 5 months on the trail I finally got my permit checked by a ranger on the way down. I can't say it was rewarding per se, but I did feel better about carrying the paper. The terrain become consistently dry and desert-ey and I could tell I was getting close to the Lone Pine <-> Kennedy Meadows section I had completed 1.5 weeks before.

I arrived at Crabtree campground, the base of the Whitney Spur Trail, mid afternoon. My plan for the following day was an aggressive one and I was hoping the ranger would cut me some slack and let me camp closer to the summit then my PCT permit allowed me. My permit did not allow me to go down the eastern side of Whitney through the Whitney Portal back to Lone Pine. Instead I would be getting up at 2:00am, summitting Whitney for the sunrise, descending back to Crabtree, and then completing the 19 miles back down and around to Horseshoe Meadows. It would be just over a 36 mile day including the tallest peak in the continental US.

The ranger was out on patrol so I decided just to go for it. I hiked in up to Guitar Lake. That was quite crowded and I had heard of additional sites with water further up and decided to keep going. I settled on a flat spot tucked right up against a large boulder for protection from the wind. This was the highest I had ever camped.

My camp site

I was a little concerned about logistics for the next day. There was a good chance I would arrive at Horseshoe Meadows too late to hitch a ride into town. I had asked Rickets to cancel the GPS plan and yesterday had been the last day of the last cycle. Fortunately for me, Delorme's system had screwed up and it had rolled over anyway. I sent a text off to my mother giving her my credit card information and asking her to reserve a room at the hostel and to arrange a pickup for me. Huge thanks to her for taking my last minute request and making some calls.

The van driver she talked to had some interesting news: Horseshoe Meadows might very well be on fire. The next call was to the sheriff who confirmed that there was indeed a live fire at Horseshoe Meadows and that the section of trail I had planned on doing would be closed. Man was I glad to have found that out tonight and not halfway into the next day. Especially as I did not have enough food to take an alternate trail back down to Lone Pine.

My last day on trail had just become a whole lot easier. Despite not having the correct permit to exit through Whitney Portal, I didn't exactly have a choice. After a pre-dawn summit I would just have 9 miles of downhill to the portal. From there it would be easy to get a ride into town. Feeling much better about the state of things I headed to bed.