How it began

I grew up in an urban environment in China in the 1970s and 80s. Back in those days, people generally did not have the luxury of traveling outside their cities for recreational purposes, and there was no such thing as the Boy Scouts. My first time hiking was in my late thirties, when a friend invited me to climb Mt. Baldy. Because I was in decent shape from regular jogging, and happened to be not very sensitive to the adverse effect of high altitude, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. From then on, I began to look for good hiking routes and vantage points. For example, when I was on academic leave in China, I took a two-day train ride from Shanghai to Tibet, and eventually arrived at the 17,000 foot Mt. Everest base camp on the Chinese side of the border with Nepal. The view was just amazing, even with a splitting headache and less than 50% oxygen level to cope with. It was worth it.

Why Mt. Whitney?

It is the highest point in the lower 48 states. Plus, Lone Pine is only three hours away from Southern California! That's practically at our door step. I wanted to hike it for the same reason that George Mallory wanted to summit Mt. Everest: "Because it's there," he famously said. In addition, I wanted this to be a test to see if I can still complete a physically demanding task. After all, walking 22 miles and climbing 6,200 feet is not usually a daily routine for most people. This is not quite a marathon but it's good enough for me.

The red tape

Because there are too many people who think like me from around the world, you can't just pack up and show up at the Mt. Whitney trail head. You have to get a permit, and the way to do this is by lottery at www.recreation.gov. In the peak hiking season from June to October, permits are issued to 60 people for overnight hiking and 100 people for day hiking each day. There are some simple tricks to maximize the chance of getting a permit. For example, you could choose to go on a weekday because the demand on weekends is much higher. Also, you are allowed to select up to 14 "alternative dates" and make sure that you do that. Finally, the "fall break" typically in October may be a good time to go because the demand drops toward the end of the season (though the risk of snow and ice is also greater). If all else fails, you can still go to the permit issuing office in Lone Pine and try to get a "walk-in" permit. Apparently, many people who get the permit fail to show up, and their slots are then released to the people who do show up but don't have permits. You can find some informative discussions of Mt. Whitney permit lottery at www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/topics/45232.

Day hike or overnight hike?

I have done both. You would think that splitting the hike over two days would make it easier to complete. But in my experience, day hike is actually easier because you will be carrying much less weight on your back. My backpack for the overnight camping weighs around 27 pounds. With a day hike, you skip the tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, the heavy bear canister required by the national park service, and can carry a much lighter backpack. My day pack weighs only around 10 pounds. The main disadvantage of day hikes? For the first part of the hike you are hiking with headlamps in the dark. In contrast, with an overnight permit, you can hike in during daylight and enjoy the sights. However, having done two overnighters, I am looking forward to going back to day hiking Whitney again. The main reason? The lighter load.

What's a typical day hike like?

I go pick up the permit and catch some sleep in a hotel somewhere in Lone Pine (you won't get lost - it has only one traffic light along Route 395). At 1 am I leave for the trail head and begin hiking half an hour later. The trail head is at 8,360 feet in elevation. After about 4 hours of hiking in the dark (I will talk about the sights that you have skipped later), I arrive at Trail Camp, which is at 12,000 feet. Another one and a half hours and 99 switchbacks later, I am at Trail Crest, which is at 13,600 feet. This is when the sun is coming up and I start to take pictures, first of all the sunrise.

At the Trail Crest sign, you are facing big dropoffs on both the east side and the west side. I've been told that when coupled with snow and ice, this is the point where many people decide not to continue.

However, I keep pushing on, moving past Mt. Muir, Crooks Peak, and the Keeler Needle, which are all only marginally shorter than Mt. Whitney, but require class three rock scrambling (which I will try some day).

After two hours and two more miles, I arrive at the summit, which features a stone hut on top.

After resting for a while, I take just as long to get down the mountain (due to my delicate knees), finally arriving at the trail head around 5 pm, exhausted and ready to take down that world famous cheeseburger at the portal store.

What's an overnight hike like?

On Day 1 I hike up to the camp site, usually at Consultation Lake if I don't want to see the crowd, or Trail Camp where most of the backpackers stay at. The advantage of Trail Camp is that it's higher, and will therefore save me a couple hundred feet of climbing on summit day, and it has a pond which is the main water source. If I stay at Consultation Lake, I must either hike down a few hundred feet to the lake shore for water or go up to Trail Camp for water.

Personally I find that it makes me dizzy to set up a camp site after having hiked up to 12,000 feet (this is when I might find it necessary to take one Tylenol pill). In contrast, taking down the camp site on the second day isn't nearly as taxing, probably because I have already acclimatized by then. This is another reason why I now prefer to do day hikes instead of overnight camping.

On the other hand, you will get to see a lot more on the way up. Here are some of the sights.

The trail head:

Lone Pine Lake (two miles into the hike):

Outpost Camp:

Mirror Lake:

Trailside Meadow:

Consultation Lake:

Trail Camp (six miles into the hike and the most popular camp site):

My camp site above Consultation Lake:

A less dramatic camp site at Trail Camp:

I usually go to sleep early after setting up camp (since there is nothing to do after dark). That allows me to wake up really early to push for the summit. Also, you are not going to sleep well coming from sea level to 12,000 feet in one day, even with Tylenol. That's yet the third reason why I don't like overnight backpacking on Whitney. I guess you can spend a few more days on the mountain to make it more enjoyable, but I usually don't have that much free time, and as far as I know multi-day hiking permits are nearly impossible to get.

Expect the unexpected:

The first time I hiked Mt. Whitney, it was in October and there was snow on the 99 switchbacks. I had to use a pair of microspikes to get traction.

The second time was labor day and the weather was supposed to be perfect. However, it started to rain just as I got to Trail Camp and my jacket was soaked within 30 minutes. I almost decided to turn back, but then the sun came up and the clouds were burned off, and I kept going and reached the summit.

The third time it was raining all the way from the trail head to Trail Camp. Fortunately enough I brought a large trash bag that sheltered my backpack.

During the fourth hike, the trail was cut off by a large snow field just 300 feet below the summit (this was in July no less). I couldn't get across safely and decided to turn back. It helped that I had reached the summit twice before and didn't consider not reaching the summit such a big deal.

So, as you can see, hiking Whitney will never go smoothly the entire trip. But hopefully what I wrote will get you excited to do it yourself. I know I will be back again.

Here's from the fifth trip, a day hike, taken in October 2016: