The alarm went off at 1230am and we tossed on some extra layers and took off with Baseball. It was nice not having a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, multiple days of food, and other miscellaneous items weighing down the pack. It was pitch black and we hiked by headlamp across the meadows, past Guitar Lake, and up the seemingly endless switchbacks. At the base, Sea Lion insisted I run ahead to catch sunrise since she knew I've been looking forward to the sunrise and she was feeling too sluggish to make it. She isn't much of a morning person in general, let alone a 2am morning person. So I up I went in high gear and when I got to the Whitney Portal Junction, 1.9 miles from the summit, I knew I had to move even faster. This was confirmed when I got the the windows, jagged slots in the ridgeline that let you see to the Eastern side, and the orange line was peeking over the distant horizon. I practically jogged across the boulder-hopping and narrow trail, often running out of breath from the high altitude.
The trail goes past a few rock formations that are creepy at night.
View through one of the windows, better hurry to the summit to beat the sun!
I set my camera timelapse on a lower ledge joined about ten other hikers on the east-facing ledge, all bundled up in all our layers AND wrapped up in our sleeping bags. It was cold. It was windy. But we were on top of the world watching the sunrise! After the sun popped over the horizon I went to explore the summit and see the golden light blasting the neighboring peaks and spires. I found an "easy" button in the trail register so we had fun taking turns slapping it and hearing the monotone "that was easy" saying. Thanks to whoever hiked that up.
I walked back towards the final approach to check if I could see Sea Lion and she was just topping out! She was proud I made it in time for the sunrise and I was proud of her for conquering the dark and frigid climb to the peak. We cooked some oatmeal and hot tea, took some more photos, and then I chugged my summit beer that I hiked up.
Summit beer!
Sea Lion powered up Mount Whitney!
I mentioned that it was cold so we didn't hang out too long. It was interesting seeing the trail in daylight on the way back down, seemed like a whole new hike. All the neighboring mountains were stunning and the meadows down below came into focus as we picked our way back down. We we're exhausted and couldn't wait to get back to camp to take a nap.
Tricky trail along the cliffs.
Artic Lake.
Hitchcock Lake on the left, Guitar Lake in the right.
Just a sneaky marmot we saw on the descent.