Greetings from the top of the highest peak in the lower 49 states...Mt. Whitney. There is a little shelter the top and if it were not here I would be in my tent by one of the rock barriers. Well, if I were in my tent this journal entry would be three words long because the wind just picked up.

For the last couple of days I've been trying to figure out all kinds of different ways of getting my resupply in Independence on Saturday. Since the PO is closed until Monday this means waiting around and such. After today though, ha ha, the idea of taking a day off does not sound bad. This mountain really kicked my butt today, probably the hardest since climbing Mt. Rainier.

Although we were roped up/etc on Rainier, we were not carrying heavy backpacks. The trail up Mt Whitney is currently about 98% snow free. Since I was planning on camping at the top I did not leave anything behind at Crabtree meadows, and I packed five liters of water to the top.

Anyway...this morning. I was on the trail early (by recent standards), around 6:30. Getting up early makes the hugest difference, even though sleeping in feels good...it sucks about two hours later when it is noon and you have hardly moved.

Went pretty fast up and over the next ridge. Dropped down into Crabtree meadows. Turned off the PCT and onto the JMT (John Muir Trail) towards Mt. Whitney. When I got to the turnoff to the ranger station I went down there because I knew I had a 1996 photo from there to retake. (of the weather station..looks exactly the same except for a new solar panel).

As I was walking down to the meadow I saw Cowboy there. U-Turn, Jug, and Hooligan were all there too. They had gone up Mt. Whitney early this morning around 1am to get there in time for sunrise. It was good to spend time with them while they laid about and I made some breakfast.

I said goodbye around 11:30am and started heading up towards Whitney. There are a lot of glacial lakes around and not a whole lot of trees, it looks like the moon with lakes.

Stopped at Guitar Lake to get water and dry out my sleeping bag. It was not damp this morning but I really didn't want to find out that it was damp when I was camped on top in the freezing cold.

Saw Purple Haze heading down. He told me that he couldn't get a cell signal on top of Whitney which was surprising. A few days earlier I was thinking I could spend time on top of Whitney answering email. Little did I know that the lack of a cell signal wouldn't be the only wrench in that plan.

Five-star came down a bit later. He asked if I had taken a day off at the meadow since he thought I was ahead of him. I told him I had taken a couple easy days, he probably passed me when I was at the spring the other day.

The climb up Whitney was exhausting. I couldn't figure out why I was having such a hard time with the hills, then I realized that the altitude here is 4-7 times higher than what I have been hiking in the last few weeks. It took FOREVER to go a single mile. I would walk 10 steps, rest, walk 10 steps, etc.

Ran into the outdoor catalog model kids from Chicken Spring Lake. They recognized me. The girl asked if I had seen the girl in pink, but since I came up the backside trail I had not. Apparently she had altitude sickness and had to turn around.

The whole climb up I was a little nervous about the clouds. They were doing their typical thing of somewhat storm looking clouds would appear around 2pm and then be gone by 6pm. I knew about the lightning danger up here and was wondering if I should keep pushing up. Seeing day hikers coming down kind of snapped me out of it a bit.

The final mile to the peak left me feeling the most tired I have felt in ages. Once I saw the shelter my body kicked it in a little and I made it to the top.

I sat in the shelter for a bit, zoning out and eating snacks. A couple other day hikers came up. They guy came up just to shoot a panorama photo and then go back down.

I made some dinner but couldn't finish it because the light was starting to turn all awesome and whatnot. I retook a bunch of my 1996 photos. I had my GoPro camera with me too but I had to look up how to do stop motion photos on it. As I was doing this, um, some body issues came up and I went into panic mode. The portable toilet with the awesome view is no longer up here. I think they give you blue bags if you come up the east side, but I had come up from the west. Suddenly I remembered the extra garbage bag I found at Kennedy Meadows and put in my pack for extra rain protection, then was irked because I forgot to take it out. It was a really heavy garbage bag and probably weighed 1/2 pound. Details aside, that unused garbage bag I forgot to get rid of literally saved my ass.

The sunset was really cool, but not as good as the 1996 one. I took all kinds of different photos so I am not complaining. It was kind of funny retaking the 1996 photo of my altimeter watch next to the USGS marker. Since I don't have the watch with me (and the battery died sometime around 1999), I used the iphone instead and had the Halfmile GPS app up.

Was trying to remember when sunrise was, but then I realized I had taken a sunrise photo from inside my tent the other day at the meadow. 5:58am was the time on the photo. Excellent. I have to be sure and get up early tomorrow. 17 years ago when I slept in this little shelter the door opened about 5:30am with a kid saying "whoah! someone is sleeping in there!" Hopefully I won't have that alarm clock tomorrow.