We started up the trail from the Whitney Portal (at 8,360') just before three in the morning. Despite a half moon in the western sky, the night was dark, and you could see thousands of stars and constellations. I'd never hiked at night for any appreciable time before, and the experience was incredible. Orion was rising over the mountains to the south, and was huge and low to the horizon. And the Perseid meteor shower, which had reached its peak the night before, was still putting on a show, especially so far from any towns.
The trail itself was wide and easy in the first stretch, as we forded several streams and began the trek up the mountains. The only sounds were various creeks and waterfalls splashing down the mountainside, until a wacked-out skier flew by us as he sped on up the trail. I was glad when he was finally out of sight (and hearing), although it was amusing to see his headlamp dashing up the mountain in the darkness ahead of us. And although it usually seemed like we were alone on the mountain, as the day grew closer, we could see a few parties of hikers with their flashlights and headlamps on the trail ahead.
The sunrise was the brilliant kind that you only see in the dry, clear air of the high desert. Purples and oranges faded into pinks and reds and yellows as the sun slowly peeked above the Owens Valley to the east. As the sun rose, we could see the summit of Whitney for the first time that day, illumenated by the new sun in a way that made it seem pure white.
After a short snack break near Lone Pine Lake (9,960') we hiked on, passing a still silent Outpost Camp at 10,360 feet. All the overnight campers were still sleeping soundly through the first minutes of the day.
We continued on, passing Trailside Meadow, the last bit of green on the trail at 11,395 feet. We came to Consultation Lake, which was deathly still and looked frigid. As we reached Trail Camp (12,039'), a ranger stopped us to check our permits and gave us a pointless ten second lecture on feeding animals or something; I didn't pay attention, so now I don't remember! Isn't bureaucracy fun?
Finally, we started up the switchbacks, just as the backpackers that had spent the night at Trail Camp were starting up, so we had companion hiking parties for the first time, along with the friendly and idle chitchat and encouragement between different groups.
The switchbacks aren't steep or difficult, but they are long and monotonous. There are supposedly 97 of them, so we passed the time by counting them off, finally reaching the top at around 101, after passing some ice patches and some cables that had been installed to help out when the conditions were more difficult.
That brought us to Trail Crest (13,777'), where we were rewarded with an awesome view of the Sequoia National Park, along a fierce wind blowing somewhere around 20-30 miles per hour, since now the mountain offered no shelter from the west. We sat down behind a little berm, and had a lunch of Gatorade, pretzels, turkey sandwiches and Advil. The high altitude was starting to affect us, since we didn't have the time to do any acclimitization at all.
After lunch, we set off for the summit, past the junction with the John Muir Trail, and up the broad west face of Whitney, in what was definitely the longest 1.9 miles I've ever hiked. Unprepared for the thin air above 14,000 feet (where the air is less than 60% its thickness at sea level), I found myself breathing deeply just from walking (and walking slowly at that!). Eventually I reached the summit, feeling great and thinking that the Advil had done trick.
As we took in the vistas from the top, and took the obligatory pictures, I was approached by the largest, fattest marmot I have ever seen. I can only describe it as obese; it would appear that this clever animal grew fat feeding on the food that people hauled up the summit, only to find themselves unable to eat it. No doubt this is what that ranger was talking about. But we had left our packs at the Trail Crest, and didn't feel much like eating anyways.
On the journey back to Trail Crest, I found myself getting a little dehydrated, since we hadn't brought nearly enough water for the hike to the summit. It was amplified by the altitude, I'm sure, so I wasn't feeling the best when we reached our packs. But after puking off the cliff, I felt fine, and we kept on, descending quickly down the switchbacks and back towards the trailhead. We managed another meal once below Trail Camp, and after just hanging out and relaxing for a while, we set off down the trail, as the afternoon wore on.
The trail down was very nice, and we saw during the day what we had passed in the darkness on the way up. After Lone Pine Lake, we were anxious to reach the car, but that portion of the trail, which went so fast earlier, seemed so long to us now. But just at nightfall, we reached the trailhead, aimed the car back down towards the town of Lone Pine, and set off. I was tired, but having just finished the coolest hike I'd been on to date, I was already thinking about next time.
Mount Whitney is the highpoint of the continental United States.