Sunset, Moraine Lake. Why the beautiful color? Huge wildfires to the south and west.
High Sierra Trail Start 4:37 PM June 28, 2007. Starting an 80-plus mile hike late is not great, but the shuttle took 8 hours after the driver got lost.
Crescent Meadows. John Muir called this "the jewel of the Sierra." It's the trail's lowest point at 6,700 feet.
Among giants. At 5 foot 2, Jan is only 250 feet shorter than these two trees. Note the deep scars from past fires.
Redwood giant. These are the only big trees we would see on the trip.
Eagle's view. The Great Western Divide comes into view here. It is one of the major obstacles of the High Sierra Trail.
Afternoon light on the ridgeline. Near Merton Creek the rock took on a golden glow.
Moonrise over Merton Creek. The view of the Great Western Divide from our first camp. Only 75 miles to go.
Merton Creek Camp. The only level patch of ground for miles. This perch sits on a bench above the trail just west of the creek.
High Sierra Trail near Merton Creek. The start of the second day. The "trail" is actually a break in the granite headwall of Kaweah Canyon's north face.
Rock Penstemon. We timed this hike at the end of June because we knew water would be scarce later in the summer. The abundant wildflowers were a bonus.
Sierra Sedum. These are the alpine counterpart to "hens and chickens."
Columbine flower. We saw two different varieties along the trail.
Tiny blossoms. These flowers would open and close in response to the sun.
Mystery blossom. We had never seen this flower before. Perhaps it's a type of phlox.
High Sierra, day two. Sometimes the trail looked like it had been sculpted out of the living rock.
Elegant Brodiaea Flowers. This was a new one for us.
The High Divide and Blue Dome. Day two of the High Sierra trail brought views at every turn.
Butterfly on a blossom. These insects made for colorful hiking.
Bridge over Buck Creek. This marks the final short climb to Bearpaw Meadows.
The mess tent at Bearpaw Meadows. A little too much comfort for us. We hiked on.
Looking into Kaweah Canyon. The trail featured sheer drops.
High Bridge. An amazing bridge high above the Kaweah River. The wreckage of the old bridge lies below. It was destroyed in an avalanche.
Monkey Flowers and Lupines. The flowers grow tall along the trail as it ascends more than 2,000 feet to Hamilton Lakes
Stream Crossing on the way up to Hamilton Lakes.
The ascent to Hamilton Lakes. The views kept getting finer and finer the higher we climbed.
The Angels Wings. A famous rock formation near Hamilton Lakes.
Finally our destination: Hamilton Lakes. We had the whole place to ourselves . . .until around 7:30 PM when seven Outward Bounders arrived. C'est la vie!
Laundry Day at Hamilton Lakes. Swimming with clothes on is a great way to wash up.
Hamilton Lake is ringed by granite. What a beautiful backdrop.
This mayfly wouldn't leave my finger. Perhaps it had seen the hungry trout in the lake.
Hamilton Lake Marmot. Unfortunately, the whole area was covered in Marmot droppings.
A Hamilton lake sunset promises the alpineglow to come.
The Great Western Divide. The alpine glow started slowly.
The fins and domes above Hamiliton lake went from purple to gold as the sun dropped.
Alpine Glow above Hamilton Lake.
Deer Sentry. We had deer, marmots, and pica, watching our every move at Hamilton lakes.
Sunrise at Hamilton Lake. Almost as colorful as sunset. The big difference: less rock rims the east side so fewer faces are illuminated by the dawn light.
Black Capped Chickadee Fledgling. This little guy spent the morning huddled in a tree root at our camp trying to look inconspicuous.
Morning, Day three. Crossing the Hamilton Lake outlet stream. By day's end we will have covered 14 miles and climbed a 10,700 foot pass and a 10,600 foot pass.
Ascending the pass. The climb up to the Great Western Divide.
Grouse on the trail. We constantly heard their drumming but this is the only one we saw.
Lupine show. As we climbed higher, the lupine became the dominant flower.
Trail Engineering. The route is nothing short of incredible as it dips into a tunnel and circumvents a deep defile in the rock face.
Overhang and Tunnel. Just before the tunnel, we could see the old foundation and cables for the old suspension bridge destroyed by an avalanche.
View from the defile. At this point we are a thousand feed above Hamilton Lake and have just passed through the tunnel.
Cool Water. This is the only place in the world I feel safe drinking water straight from the source.
Hamilton Lakes. A measure of our progress: Can you spot the trail on the right side of the lake?
Humm? We realized we'd seen this view before.
Precipice Lake. Such an incredible place.
Ansel's view. Ansel Adams shot one of his most famous images here at Precipice Lake before the lake even had a name.
Tiny tarn. On the way to the pass we passed a number of jewel-like tarns.
Kaweah Gap. Finally on top at 10,700 feet. We thought we'd done the toughest part of the day but we were in for a rude awakening.
Descent from Kaweah Gap. The trail drops into Big Arroyo.
Alpine Columbine. There are a number of Columbines with similar coloration; Colville's and hybrid Yellow are two.
Sarcodes Sanguinea. The snow plant, a rare, protected plant up to 10,000 in the California mountains.
No name Pass. This nondescript summit was the toughest of the trip. It's only 10,600 feet but it came late on a hard day.
Ancient Foxtail Pine. Both the living and skeletal trees lend an air of majesty.
One more river crossing. An unnamed tributary of Big Arroyo Creek.
Moraine Lake. Warm and inviting but we were too tired to swim.
Too tired to eat. We'd hiked 14 miles and climbed two big passes but we were too gassed to finish dinner.
Alpine Glow Moraine Lake
Last Light, Moraine Lake
Groggy Hiker. Nothing like a Tylenol PM induced sleep after a 14 mile day.
Morning at Moraine Lake. A warm, windless day and a great view back to the Great Western Divide.
Now that's more like it. We had no appetite for dinner, but we were ready for a good breakfast.
Sky Parlor Meadows. This portion of the Chagoopa Plateau reminded me of Colorado.
The Kern River Canyon. Also known as the "Big Ditch."
One of our constant companions on the hot rocky trail down to the Kern River Canyon.
We spooked this large Garter snake who promptly slid into Funston Creek and began chasing the trout there.
Brown Camo. This lizard had a good granite pattern on his back but the color did not match the rock.
Kern River Canyon. We were surprised at the dense bracken ferns along the bottom of Kern River Canyon.
Kern River Hot Springs. Blessed relief at last! 115 degrees. It takes 10 gallons of creek water to adjust the temperature to "just about perfect."
Ah! Three days from anywhere, yet so refreshing.
Kern River cool down. The chilly waters of the Kern make the perfect finish to any hot springs visit.
Some shrinkage may occur.
Leaving the Kern. The only way out of the Kern Canyon is a 3,000 foot cliff climb.
Wallace Creek Crossing. I got the idea to hike the High Sierra Trail right here more than 35 years ago when I saw a sign pointing to the Sequoas when I hiked the Muir Trail.
Mosquito Garb. Even though it was in the 80's the down jacket kept the bugs at bay at Wallace Creek.
On the JMT near Crabtree.
Wag Bag Grab. Our arrival in the Whitney region brings an unwanted companion: the wag bag. This will be our toilet in a bag for the next 3 days.
Timberline Lake. The last trees for three days. That's Whitney in the center, only 4,000 feet above us.
The last tree. Heading into the alpine zone we pass the last spindly pine.
The trail to Guitar Lake. This spot is higher than all but one mountain in Oregon where we live. A good test for sea level dwellers.
The alpine zone is the Marmot zone. These guys live almost to the summit of Mt. Whitney.
Guitar Lake. In the distance, Kaweah gap and the Great Western Divide.
The Tarn above Guitar Lake
Curry. Not the best meal when wag bags are around
Guitar Lake. The sun was so strong at 11,000 feet we could hardly wait for it to slip below the horizon.
Grassy shoreline. The Tarn above Guitar Lake
The Trail Goes On Forever. By now we've followed boot prints of the High Sierra Trail more than 65 miles in six days and only have 17 miles remaining.
Peaceful waters. There is nothing finer than alpine glow on the 14,000 foot peaks of the Whitney group.
The Tarn above Guitar Lake. We took a walk around the lake and the mountain reflections were our constant companions.
Caution. Marmots be nearby.
One last look. Our goal: Mt. Whitney's summit 3,000 feet above.
Dawn at 11,000 feet. The blue glow on the horizon is the earth's shadow over the Great Western Divide.
Sierra Dawn. As the sun came up, we could see the mountain range we had walked over all week.
The waning moon high above Mt. Hitchcock on summit day.
Above Hitchcock Lakes. It is easy to feel like the lord of all you survey on the trail to Mt. Whitney.
Mt. Whitney West side. The start of the needles section of the mountain.
Window View. At several points, the hiker passes "windows" with views down to the Owens Valley Floor
The First Window. This is the first of several views.
The Needles and Windows along the summit trail. Notice the hikers in the lower left.
Alpine Gold Flowers. The tenacity of life is amazing, even at 14,000 feet.
No place but up. This was the last window just below the summit.
The Final Few Steps. More than 70 years ago, the Smithsonian Institution built a hut atop the summit.
Whitney's Summit Plateau is bigger than a football field and offers a great view westward to all of the country we have covered.
Signing the summit register. The word "wow" appears here often.
The summit zoo. From warrior "posers" to cell phone addicts to American flag wavers, the summit crowd never ceases to amaze.
Summit Benchmark. There are numerous summit benchmarks and each one has a different elevation.
Happy hikers. My third time on the summit, Jan's first. Each trip has been special.
The last time I viewed this lake it was frozen. Could climate change be real?
The Great Western Divide
Guitar Lake. From the summit, the lake does look like a guitar.
Hitchock Lakes with the Great Western Divide visible in the background
The Summit Trail as viewed from above. The farthest visible point of trail is the intersection of the summit trail and the John Muir Trail.
Back at the Junction. Now only a 4,000 foot descent and 9 more miles.
Trail Crest. The highest pass on the John Muir Trail 13,600 feet above sea level.
Only 96 more switchbacks to go.
The trail down features 97 switchbacks and was festooned with what seemed like 97 million sky pilots
Sky Pilots everywhere
The cables. When I climbed here in years past this area was deeply covered in snow.
Trail Camp Lake
Once below the switchbacks the trail follows the stream all the way down to Whitney Portal.
Foxtail Pine. Our first tree in almost 3 days.
Last light. We were too tired to hike all the way out from the summit so we spent another night on the trail.
One more morning of alpine glow before our return to civilization.
We started the hike under a full moon now a week later the half moon greets the dawn at Outpost Camp
One more turn down a switchback We still had 3 miles to go.
Wag bag be gone. After 3 days in the pack we were glad to be done with these things.
End of the Trail. 8 days, 81 miles. Now where is that shower?
