Just 1/2 mile from Outpost Camp was Mirror Lake. A beautiful alpine lake with 3 minor peaks towering overhead. I thought to myself that one of these days Ill have to come back and take pictures and learn the names of these peaks. After Mirror Lake, the switchbacks have you looking back to Mirror Lake as if to question your commitment to the resulting summit. If you don't have a firm commitment to yourself as to your objective, these switchbacks will give you a chance to back out and stay within the safety of the forest. Our next break was atop an overlook of Outpost Camp to the east and Mirror Lake to the north. From here the trail alternates to long uphill stretches then with quick steep Cliffside switchbacks until you reach Creekside Meadow. The name may have you believing that its another welcoming area like Outpost, but because of the small area, it more like a pond with some patches of grass and ground cover. Once you leave Creekside Meadow, you go through switchback then level off at a mesa, then more switchbacks.
From our best estimates Trail Camp was no more than 1.5 miles away so about 90 minutes from Creekside Meadow. The next trail segments had us cutting up a cliff with switchbacks, a mesa area, and then long moderate cliffside trails, until you get to a fork in the trail. The right option is going straight through a small stream but at less incline gain while the left option continues up to a peninsula switchback where on small step at the end of switchback, which is also a cliff peninsula, can have you falling off the cliff in 3 directions. By the way, did I mention there were 30+ mph wind gusts too? I dont know how we ended up here, but this peninsula is where we took our break.
Break @ 1420 with 10426 steps. We'd talk 200 yards and have to take stops to catch our breath and deal with the pounding/throeing headaches. We talked to some hikers on their descent to get an ETA on Trail Camp distance and travel time as well as weather conditions. The consensus was that we were 1 hour away and that there was plenty of snow at Trail Camp.
Break @1453 with 10655 steps. ETA at Trail Camp 45 minutes. In my audio logs, you can hear my slur more speech as my coherence of the hike was getting worse. We estimated that we were 1/2 mile from Trail Camp.
Break @ 1655 with 10769 steps. It was also at this point that we had an equipment and personnel change that left us with 1 less team member, less food, and minus a daypack for the Mt. Whitney summit. No way could we summit with weight distribution of 3 but on 2 packs. So I always tend to revert to basic necessity in times of emergency and broke down our options: 1) continuing to Trail camp, setting up a long meal break to cook lunch now at 1630 2) going back to Outpost camp for a hot dinner, better water supply, warmer conditions, more oxygen, a flat area protected by trees and cliffs. We were not going to summit so we didn't need to go to trail camp because its just not that inviting of an area. We did try to get our boil pot fired up but the wind, equipment, lack of lighter or matches, and oxygen were not cooperating with our failed attempt for lunch. Oh by the way, did I mention we were out of water? So the best solution was to give the remaining of my snack supply to my remaining team, filter some water at the trail fork (recommended as the best water supply in the area by a patrolling park ranger), redistribute the new weight load, and head to Outpost camp. In order to sell this idea, I told the team that we'd be eating at sundown, with the tent already setup, and that it we were going to travel 2.5 times faster than uphill. He was sold!
Outpost Camp @ 1800 with 16298 steps. Going downhill was actually fun because you were moving so fast that you'd see land marks that took you 30 minutes to see and you see them in 10 minutes. It literally was like night and day. The speed created its own momentum and psychological uplift for the team. We setup camp while in parallel fettuccine Alfredo with turkey was being cooked. By sundown at 1830 we had our serving cups filled and sporks out and we had the best food I've tasted in 5 years! Our second course was traditional spaghetti but the highlight of the entire day had to be the blueberry cheesecake. We bought the cheesecake thinking what idiot would pack this unnecessary food item. That cheesecake was so good! Cooking was confusing but the proof is in the taste. It was like eating cookie dough in the middle of the wilderness, even down to feeling the sugar grit in your teeth with each bite. It was the perfect item to remind the team that we were here to have fun and bond while Mt. Whitney was just an excuse for old friends to get together.
While we were descending, I did notice that I got a mild headache. I was drinking and taking breaks, but I couldn'tt shake this headache. I realized that after eating the headache was slowly going away. It was then that realized that altitude sickness will diminish your feeling for food, so its really important to time your meals and execute that schedule within margin. So our bellies were full, water supply was full and tent and sleeping bags were out, and it was a welcomed lights out at 2030.
Sleep @ 1951. The night was cold and it had to have dropped to below 40 degrees as my shoulders were feeling cold. Wind came in gusts, but only strong enough to rustle the nylon tent. It did rain on us a couple times. I also heard hikers passing through or starting the summit hike about 0430. Something to note on the next trip.
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