On August 25, 2007 at 1:10 a.m., my fiance, Elliot, myself, and our two friends Krista and David set off to hike to the top of the continental United States (lower 48).
In February Elliot put in for a permit (as required to hike) and we got it! I wasn't excited at first ...altitude, no sleep, peeing in bushes... but as time drew closer, I was getting excited.
To sum up the entire trip:
started at: 1:12 a.m. August 25th
hiked up: over 6,000 ft in elevation
ended at: 14,496.811 ft.
the hike up took: ~ 9 hours
the hike back took: ~ 5 hours (and sucked really bad...)
rested for about: ~ 1 hour total
ended at: 5:10 p.m.
no sleep for: 36 hours straight
After the hike we were all exhausted, like hallucinating exhausted. We drove down the ONE main road in all of Lone Pine to get something to eat (tell me how safe driving without sleeping for 1.5 days is...haha). We had a choice between Carl's Jr, Mc.Donalds, a couple no-name sketchy diners, and this random pizza factory. Pizza it was. Best meal! After a diet of clif bars, trail mix, and an orange for the last 16 hours, we were all hurting for some real food. If we could just keep our eyes open long enough to eat it!
Then, off to the Best Western to crash at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening. Sleep for 12 hours and head back home!
* we met some people on the trail that had been hiking for 16 days straight. Many people hiked from Yosemite to summit Whitney. There were tons of hiking/climbing junkies at the summit.
Great experience... wouldn't do it again. I am really glad we did it once though... now we're thinking about half dome at Yosemite and the Grand Canyon (most people tackle those before Whitney... we did the opposite!).
If you need suggestions or want to tackle Whitney yourself (or if you've done half dome or the grand canyon and want to give us tips, write me a note!!)
Here is a link to the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10303343@N02/sets/72157601683630999//
(if the link is broken, visit the flickr website and type in blfoster for a search name)
:)
B
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