Greatest Accomplishment....So far

Back in Aug of 1996 I believe. It was the summer right before high school. I was about 5'0" and maybe 100 lbs. Yup, if you are picturing a big ol' son of a bitch.....you would be 100% wrong :P

I was in Boy Scouts, this would end up being my last year in. The best part about it was the camping and backpacking.

I remember the Scout Master telling his stories of Mt. Whitney. Something he did years before. I forgot how it came about, but some how I told him that I wanted to go up and over Mt. Whitney.

He did all the planning. The trip was going to be about 60+ miles long. Oh the first time I heard that, my jaw dropped. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. 60+ miles of just hiking. Oh yeah, this isn't just hiking. Nope. This is backpacking, meaning that I had to carry all of my stuff on my back. That total weight was around 45lbs, or about half of my weight.

We ended up taking The High Sierra Trail from Giant Forest to the Summit of Mount Whitney. Well, I haven't look at that trail map, but that's more or less what we did.

I don't remember how it all went down..... or where we all set up camp. I got the info someplace, I just think it's in my 'rents house.

You wouldn't think it would be THAT bad, just 10 miles a day. Well one day we only did 4 miles or something like that. We also got done a day early! Did about 12+ miles that last day.

Well I remember that last day / night very well.

We set up camp about 12,000 ft. The top of Mt. Whitney is over 14,400 ft. The Whitney Portal (where the trail ends) is about 8360 feet.

So that up 2000 then back down 6,000 feet. It's insane!

Oh and the weather there. There are no trees at all around there. It ended up raining a lot that night and the winds pick up. It's just so unreal. I want to do it again. There isn't even sand or dirt to set up camp on, it's all rocks. We ended up waking up around 4 or 5 am to start taking down camp and start going up.

I remember looking around, all you see is up. Thinking, holy cow how are we going to go up that.

One thing though. Mt. Whitney may have been the goal and the highest point in the lower 48, but it didn't have the best view.

That would be Colby Pass. It is right between the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. It's only around 13,000ft. I remember getting up to the top and the horizon going from about 20 feet in front of me to the other side of a big ol' valley! This was only the half way point, give or take.

Here is the view from where we set up camp, well just about. Can you see where we pass over that? Nope, didn't think so.

Here are all the pictures that I scanned so far. This isn't even half that I got. See if you can pick me out ;)

I was the smallest one, the youngest one, and the only one not married for this trip.

This would be one of my Greatest Accomplishment to date!