Backpacking vs Day Hiking

One of the reasons it has taken me so long to get around to hiking Mt. Whitney is that I believed that the only way to hike it was to do it in two or three days.  Originally, I thought we would hike up to trail crest, spend the night, leave our overnight stuff there and hike to the top and back.  Then either spend a second night, or continue to the bottom.  This would have meant hiking about 6 miles the first day and about 16 the second day.  It would have also meant sleeping at 12,000 feet.

The first time I went to Mt. Whitney, we camped at Whitney Portal, which is at about 8500 feet.  I did not sleep the first night there.  I could hear the blood pounding in my ears all night from the elevation.  I realized that if I hiked to trail crest and tried to sleep there, I would not get much sleep.  Not only would it be really cold and the air thin, but I would not have the benefit of the air mattress that I had when I camped at Whitney Portal.

OK. I have never been backpacking.  The idea of it appeals to me, but the practicalities of it make me a little nervous.

So when an acquaintance told me he and his wife were hiking Whitney in one day, I immediately realized that that was the solution to my anxieties.  I'd just do it in one day and then I wouldn't have to worry about sleeping at high elevation in the cold!  (OK, I'm really a fair weather camper too!)

But Mt. Whitney is 22 miles round trip from Whitney Portal and I'm not as young as I used to be.  I decided I would need to train a lot!  So I talked my husband into training with me and now I think he will even hike to the top with me, even though it is my dream and not really his.  What a guy!

The plan now is to drive up to Lone Pine, pick up our permits, check into our hotel, have a nice dinner, then go to bed.  We'll get up around 2 am, get ready and drive up to Whitney Portal and set out around 4 am.  We will set a time at which we will turn around whether we have reached the top or not, and we will also turn around if anyone gets serious altitude sickness.  But hopefully we will all be in amazing shape by then and we will make it to the top.   When we get back we will have the hotel waiting for us.  We'll eat, jacuzzi and get a good night's sleep before we drive back home the following day.  That is the plan and I think it's a good one!  I can't wait!