Kevin's Life and Travel Blog

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 8, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 16.8 miles, 27.0 km.

The last day of an amazing journey. I was expecting a cold night camping at this high altitude but it wasn’t that bad. It got really windy around 1-2am and I thought a storm was coming. I had the the alarm to 5am but woke up a bit before that.

It was still dark outside. I looked around and the views were stunning. I was surrounded by huge peaks with hundreds of stars as backdrop. I packed everything up, filtered 2 liters of water, took out the last of my Snicker and Cliff bars to put them in the backpack’s side pocket and started the hike up to Whitney. It was imperative that I didn’t waste time and make sure I finished the 17 miles for the day around 3-4pm to allow me enough time to find a ride to Lone Pine.

Mount Whitney before dawn

Looking up the trail, I saw a single flashlight followed by two more. I later found out they were Peter, Ross and Marty. I caught up to them shortly before Trail Junction. As the sun came up, it revealed dramatic sights everywhere, particularly the reflections on Hitchcock Lakes.

Hitchcock Lakes

Hitchcock Lakes and Guitar Lake

At Trail Junction, most people decide to leave their backpacks here instead of taking them up to Mount Whitney. I decided to carry mine since I didn’t have a daypack and had no convenient way to carry water, camera, snacks and the SPOT Satellite Messenger. Also by this point, having consumed almost all of my 10-day food supply, the backpack was feeling pretty light. We saw a good number of people coming up the opposite way, from Whitney Portal. They must have started pretty early to be at Trail Junction by this time.

Trail Junction

Warning sign

After the short break, I started the final ascent to Mount Whitney. The way they carved out the trail on the steep rocky walls on the mountain is really a piece of engineering.

Final stretch up Mount Whitney

Peter in the green jacket

Peter in the green jacket

Dramatic views

I was feeling great physically and the 2 miles to the top felt pretty easy. After weeks being above 10,000 feet, my body was well acclimatized. I made sure to savor the last few hundred feet before the summit.

Last few hundred feet before summit

Only a few more steps to go...

After 23 days and about 220 miles, I had finally reached Mount Whitney (14,505 ft, 4,421 m), which is where the JMT officially ends. There is a registry to hikers to sign and I got the pleasure to start a new page in it. I signed: “9/8/09 – Kevin Yang – Diamond Bar, CA – Just finished the JMT. A trip of a lifetime”. What an emotional moment.

Mount Whitney Hut

Mount Whitney registry

My entry in the registry

Plaque marking the summit

Plaque marking the summit

There were about 15 people already on the summit. There’s a lot to see in all 360 degrees. Lone Pine and the road to it can be seen to the east. Guitar Lake to the west.

Views from Mount Whitney summit

Views from Mount Whitney Summit

Me, Peter, Marty and Ross

After spending a good hour and a half on top, I started making my way down around 10:30am. There was still 12.5 miles to go with a 6,000 feet descent. By now, hordes of people were coming up, most of them doing a brutal 1-day up and down hike from Whitney Portal. It seems torturous to me and I don’t know if I’d want to, or be able to do that. One gentleman going up asked me to relay a message to his girlfriend who was behind, telling her that he was going up to the summit and couldn’t wait for her any longer or else none of them were going to make it to the top. He wanted her to wait for him at Trail Junction. I later found her coming up the “99 Switchbacks”.

Pinnacles south of Mount Whitney

My JMT wouldn’t be complete without seeing the Czechs one last time. We run into each other right before I got down to Trail Junction, as they were going up. Having fallen behind earlier in their hike, they were now more than on schedule to catch their flight back to Europe. We exchanged emails and said goodbye one last time.

Just when I thought there were no more uphill climbs, there was one last short one right after Trail Junction up to Trail Crest (13,650 ft, 4,461 m). It was short but exhausting.

Trail Crest

Unknown Peak

I made my way down the famous (or dreaded) 99 Switchbacks. Going down was easy, but climbing up must be brutal. It was already around 1pm and there were still lots of people going up. Unfortunately, I think most of them were not going to be able to make it to the summit and back to Whitney Portal before dark.

99 Switchbacks

99 Switchbacks

With about 4 miles to go I got really hungry. People kept telling me about the wonderful cheeseburgers at Whitney Portal and I was trying to hurry and make it there as quickly as possible. I decided to stop an eat the last of my food because I wasn’t enjoying the hike anymore, and I really wanted to enjoy the last few miles of this amazing journey.

Mirror Lake. Hiking down to Whitney Portal.

I run into Marty and Ross and hiked the last mile with them. I was experiencing the same mixed feeling I got the previous night. I was happy and satisfied to be finishing the JMT, but at the same time I was sad it was coming to an end.

With Marty and Ross

I arrived at Whitney Portal around 4pm with a big smile on my face. I weighted my backpack at the scale. With 9 days of trash, my backpack weighted 17 lbs (7.7 kg).

Weighting my backpack at Whitney Portal

Once at the store, I got a cheeseburger, fries, and 2 beers and shared a table with Peter, Marty, Ross, Carla and Gavin. Having eaten only 2 hours before, I wasn’t really that hungry. After stuffing myself, it was time to look for a ride to Lone Pine. I went to the parking lot exit and on my first try, a very nice family of four stopped and picked me up. The father had just hiked up to Mt. Whitney and down all in one day. He was impressed by what I did but I really think going up and down 20+ miles, 6000 feet in elevation in one day and all by 4pm is a more impressive feat. They were very pleasant and we had a nice chat on the way to Lone Pine. I feel really bad for not remembering their names.

Once in Lone Pine, I got a room at Trails Motel for $85 the night. I took a shower right away and must have washed off 1 pound of dirt from my body. Looking in the mirror, I realized that I had lost a lot of upper body muscle. I weighted myself at home the following day and found out I had lost 10 lbs.

Peter, Marty, Ross, Carla and Gavin and I met up at the Pizza Factory for one more meal. Again, I wasn’t that hungry but ate anyways. Afterward, I went to the drugstore and got me a bunch of sweets, which is what I was really craving for. Back at the motel, I washed my clothes so that I can at least look (and smell) civilized the following day on my trip home. I stayed up until 1am watching crap on TV.

One would think that I would sleep soundly in a comfortable bed after being in the backcountry for 23 days, but I kept waking up all night. I think my body had gotten used to and was missing the sleeping bag and mat.

John Muir Trail Journal Index

John Muir Trail Journal Index

Journal entry for September 7, 2009.
Approximate distance hiked: 9.5 miles, 15.3 km.

The sun started hitting the tent hard at around 7am. Before this, it had been a very cold night, with temperature dropping below freezing in the middle of the night. I wanted to keep sleeping but condensation was dripping all over my face. I got up but really didn’t do anything for a while. I was in no hurry. I removed the tent’s rain fly and laid down on the sleeping pad again, enjoying the views of the Great Western Divide to the west while the sun gently hit my back.

After lounging for a good while, I washed my t-shirt so that hopefully I wouldn’t be stinking too much while hitching a ride from Whitney Portal to Lone Pine the following day. I also washed my hair, which took a little work because I wanted to wash with soap away from the pond to not contaminate the water. I finally left Bighorn Plateau at around 11am.

Great Western Divide

Bighorn Plateau

Feeling clean and fresh after washing hair

I kept looking west to see if I could see Mount Whitney. I really couldn’t tell because there are many mountains similar in elevation around Whitney. The trail was very dusty and full of small rocks that kept getting into my shoes. I stopped many times to empty them. After the High Sierra Trial Junction I run into the Czechs one more time. I found it funny that despite having passed them 4 times, they always ended up ahead of me.

Sandy Meadow

Getting closer and closer to Mount Whitney

I was feeling sluggish and tired even though the trail was not demanding. I was hoping that a good night’s rest would leave me OK for the 17-mile final day. At Crabtree Ranger Station I found a bucket with the famous “Wag Bags” in them. The rule states that one must pack out human waste between this point and all the down to Whitney Portal. I think it is necessary considering the sheer number of people that visit the area every day. Wag Bags are reusable and supposedly deodorizes the “stuff” put in it. I took one and hoped to not have to use it. I stopped eating fiber (dried fruit) 2 days before for this very purpose.

I left Muir Trail Ranch with 10 days of food and now that I was going to finish the last stretch in 9 days, I was able to eat a little more. Consequently, I had a big lunch. Even after 21 days, I still haven’t learned the lesson of taking a little break after eating, before getting back on the trail. I was feeling terrible. Every step was excruciating and I felt like throwing up. I stopped, sat down for 15 minutes, and felt OK again.

I arrived at Timberline Lake and was finally told by a hiker which one was Mount Whitney. It was good to finally know.

Mount Whitney from Timberline Lake

Now that I knew which one Mount Whitney was, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I was getting so close that I felt I could almost touch it with my hands. I arrived at Guitar Lake around 4:30. Right away I saw Marty and Ross, who I had met on the ferry coming out of Vermilion Valley Resort. Also there was Peter from New Zealand, who is 70 years old but looks like he is 50.  He hikes the JMT every year. Very inspirational. Check out his website here. I sat down, had a relaxing conversation with them, and we were later joined by Carla and Gavin, whom they had met earlier. Ever since I left Muir Trail Ranch with Misty, Mark, Mike and Andy and fell behind them, I had been looking for them. Marty told me that they were one day ahead of us. I was good to know they all finished without problems.

I settled down in a nice spot by the lake and snapped a few pictures before it got dark. There were almost no clouds in the sky and it looked like weather was going to be great the next day.

Guitar Lake

Camping by Guitar Lake, with Mount Whitney in the background

Mount Whitney, reflected on Guitar Lake

Mount Whitney during sunset

Mount Whitney at night, 60 second exposure

I had conflicting feelings upon realizing that this was going to be my last night of camping on the JMT. On one hand I was looking forward to a shower and and a real bed after the following day. On the other hand, I didn’t want this experience to end and wanted to enjoy these last few hours as much as possible.

The plan for the next day was to start hiking at 6am, hit the summit before 9am, spend one hour on top, and arrive at Whitney Portal before 5pm.

John Muir Trail Journal Index