Distance: 19.6 miles
Elevation: 10,834 ft
Eleavation Gain: 5214 ft
We drove up from San Diego Friday after work and stayed in Idyllwild Friday night so we could get an early start on Saturday. We stayed at the Blue Bird Inn, which was pretty nice. Saturday morning we picked up wilderness permits at the Ranger Station. We also think we got an Adventure Pass to park at the Trailhead, but I could be wrong.
The map I had said this hike is about 17 miles round trip, but it is closer to 20!
We didn't get on the trail until about 9 am. We were now equipped with new backpacks, trekking poles and new hiking shoes. This was basically going to be our trial run for Mt. Whitney. We had all of our gear finally and this hike was going to give us some distance and some altitude.
It was a pretty warm day and there were a lot of gnats but the scenery was beautiful.
My husband had some trouble with the altitude after around 8500 or 9000 feet, but I was fine.
When we reached the top, we were already wiped out. And we still had 10 miles to get back to our car! We reassured ourselves by telling ourselves that it was all downhill! LOL!
The one thing I would have done differently was to make my husband eat more. I think that consuming calories at regular intervals can really help with the altitude sickness. I think by the time we realized that we should have been consuming more, we were not able to. I think we lost a lot of energy on the way up the mountain, causing us to be slower than we should have been. The hike ended up taking us 12 hours and we got back in the dark.
This was a little scary because we couldn't tell how to get back to the road from the trail. We started down the right trail at one point but second guessed ourselves and went back and tried another trail. That trail was definitely not the right one, so we went back to the first trail and made ourselves keep going, which at 9 pm in the dark when you are exhausted is really hard to do, because you know if you made a wrong turn you are going to have to retrace your steps. We finally got back to the road and our car.
I have never been so happy in my life! We were really starving by then and knowing Idyllwild, we were afraid everything would be closed. We called Cafe Aroma, thinking we would order a pizza to go if they were still open and pick it up on the way back to our cabin. We found out that they were open until midnight! Something new they were trying. So we went back to our cabin, took quick showers and were at Cafe Aroma by 10 pm. It was a wonderful way to end the day.
The next day, I felt pretty good, but by Monday I had developed really bad shin splints and severe back pain. I was in excruciating pain for a week after that hike. I think I may have pinched a nerve or something. I was really worried about how I would feel after Whitney. But when the pain subsided after a week or so, I was determined to give Whitney my best shot! I mean, the worst that could happen was that we wouldn't make it to the top, right?
I'm going to add some photos to this blog, so come back soon. Posted 8/28/2012
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