Introduction

My husband, sister, nephew and I are going to climb Mt. Whitney sometime in August or September of 2011. My sister and nephew live near Placerville, Ca. and will be training in the Sierras. My husband and I live in La Jolla, Ca. and will be training in the Cuyamacas and San Jacinto Mountains. This blog will be a record of our training hikes and what we learn along the way.

The challenge: I just turned 60 this month! I have wanted to hike Mt. Whitney ever since my sister and I hiked half way up about 13 or 14 years ago. I don't know why I didn't just do it! I think it just seemed so overwhelming to me at the time. I guess at some point the desire had to overtake the procrastination. Now that I am 60, I realize that I'm not getting any younger and if I don't do it now, I may never do it! Over the years, I have talked to many people that have hiked Whitney and now I'm thinking what's the big deal? If one prepares properly, there is a better chance of succeeding and what the heck? If you don't try, you'll never do it! Also, if we try and don't make it to the top, at least we will have had the joy of training and trying!

So, today I'm filling out the 2011 Mt. Whitney Lottery Application. It has to be mailed between February 1st and March 15th. The Lottery will be held on Feb. 16th and the remaining empty spots will be filled after that. The application and information on how to apply can be found at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5227396.pdf.

We're turning in 10 choices. I wonder if we should turn in more? This is the hard part, the part that has been keeping me from doing this all these years. So here goes!

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!

Training Hike #1: Tahquitz Peak

I'm doing a bit of catch up here.  When I started this blog we had already done 4 training hikes starting in October.

Our first hike was Tahquitz Peak in the San Jacinto Mountains from the Devil's Slide parking lot.  Round trip distance is 8 or 9 miles.  The rangers said it was 8 but some other websites said it was 9.  The elevation gain was 2500 feet so about 500 ft per mile.  The top of the peak is at 8,828 ft. There were patches of snow the last few hundred feet before the top on the northern face of the peak. There is a lookout tower at the top.  Amazing views and a great place to have lunch.

We were shooting for 2 miles an hour so it was a good workout for us.  We made it up and back in 4.5 hours, so if it was indeed 9 miles, we made our goal.  We did stay at the top for about half and hour for lunch.

We drove up to Idylwild on Friday evening, spent the night and hiked on Saturday.  When we got back we were pretty sore, but the B and B we stayed at had a jacuzzi tub, so that was great!  We drove back on Sunday morning.  It was a great trip and a great first hike!  I didn't get good pictures of the mountain though because my camera broke.  All I got were pictures of my husband and I that I took on my cell phone.  Actually, my current profile picture is from that hike. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post from our next hike. 

I found a couple of good websites with information about this hike:
http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/TahquitzDS_4472.asp
http://www.summitpost.org/tahquitz-peak/151446

Training Hike #2: Indian Canyons

Our second training hike was in November, the weekend before Thanksgiving.  The plan was to have a little getaway in Palm Springs and take the Aerial Tram to Mountain Station at 8500 feet and hike to the top of Mt. San Jacinto at 10,834 feet (about 10 miles distance) for a little altitude training. Unfortunately it snowed the night before and we didn't really have snow clothes prepared, so we decided to check out the Indian Canyons instead.

We stayed at a little B&B called Casa Cody.  It's the oldest operating hotel in Palm Springs, founded by the cousin of Buffalo Bill Cody.  I highly recommend it, but make reservations way in advance, as there are only 27 units and it sells out quickly.  The room we had was a little more expensive but had a fireplace next to the bed, a little kitchenette and swimming pools out the front and back doors.



One of many stone crossings on Murray Creek

Saturday morning we set out to explore the Indian Canyons and hopefully get a 10 mile hike in.  The Canyons were very close to where we were staying so it was very convenient.  We paid a day use fee of  $10 each at the tollgate and received a trail map.  We wanted to hike near water, so Murray Canyon Trail and Palm Canyon Trail were recommended.  We picked Murray Canyon trail, a 4 mile hike up and back that follows Murray Creek.  The trail crossed back and forth across the creek on stepping stones and was shaded by beautiful palm trees.  It was really lovely.

Three Sisters near end of Murray Canyon Trail



View of Murray Canyon from Coffman Trail

On the way back we turned off the Murray Canyon trail to the Coffman trail which was about a mile loop that connected back to the Murray Canyon trail farther down, so we decided to take that trail to increase our distance.  This trail took us up and away from Murray Creek along a ridge. 






Another trail, West Fork North Trail joined Coffman trail about 1/4 mile out and continued up the ridge.

A sign said it was 3 3/4 miles (to where?).  We decided to see how far we could get.  This trail had a pretty steep incline and we made it about 3 miles up before we had to turn around due to the rain, the lateness of the day and the Canyon's closing time.


View of Rainbow from West Fork North Trail

Speaking of the rain... it was raining in the mountains above us while we were hiking even though it was sunny in the valley.  Occasionally we caught a little spray blown over by the wind.  The effect of the weather was a huge rainbow that spanned the valley which we had a perfect veiw of for most of our hike!  November is a great time of year to hike the Indian Canyons, as the weather is cool but not too cold.


I think if we had continued we would have reached the West Fork Trail and would have ended up eventually at Palm Canyon.  We may try to do that hike at a later date.  It was really good training for up and down hill, although I don't know what the elevation gain was.

By the time we got back to the parking lot, the park was about to close.  We had walked continuousely for about 5 or 6 hours so we figured we got at least 10 miles in, if not more.  We were pretty sore by then but had a great time. 

For dinner that night we ate at Native Foods Cafe, which was also not far from our hotel (but not within walking distance).  It's a really great vegan restaurant.  What a find!  It reminds be of Veggie Grill in Irvine which is also a favorite of mine.  Why don't they have one in San Diego?

Training Hike #3: Cowles Mtn

The weather was turning bad, so we decided we needed to keep our hikes closer to home for a while.  In San Diego, the weather is mild and you can hike all year round without having to deal with snow, rain, sub-zero temperatures, etc.

For our next hike we planned to check out Cowles Mtn.  We had hiked it many times in the past, in fact I used to run it about once a week while my daughter was at dance classes nearby.  I think that's how I wrecked my knees!

Our goal was to go out there and see how many times we could go up and down in a day.  It's 3 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 950 in 1.5 miles so an average of 633 ft elevation gain per mile, vs Mt. Whitney with an average elevation gain of 545 ft per mile.  The traffic on Cowles is crazy.  It's gotten to be like a super highway. We must've passed at least a hundred people in 6 miles, so we decided to call it quits after two times. San Diegans are obsessed with working out in the out of doors and in the last few years Cowles Mtn has become the destination of choice for many people who like to do trail running.  I remember climbing Cowles with our daughter when she was 6 or 7 (about 12 years ago) and there was hardly anyone else on the trail.

We decided to find another trail for our next hike.