Mount Muir 14,012′ and Mount Whitney 14,505′
Sierra Nevada
Archival Series (statistics approximate)- Climbed 6/20/12-6/24/12
Total Time: 5 days
Distance: 54 miles
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Whitney Portal, full services
I woke up the next morning with my back feeling better, but still not 100%. I popped another round of ibuprofen and broke camp, determined to get out that day.
I hiked quickly past Timberline Lake to Guitar Lake, the typical basecamp for SOBO JMT hikers to camp on their final day. Nearly everyone had left for the day, giving the dozens of local marmots a chance to rummage through the camps to look for any falling scraps or the occasional horse turd.
Whitney looks far less intimidating from the west, and I continued past Guitar Lake and started up the switchbacks. The trail gains elevation steadily through the rubble, climbing above Hitchcock Lakes with Mount Hitchcock to the southwest, which I would later climb in snow November 2013.
When I reached the crest, I hit the junction with the main Mount Whitney trail out of Whitney portal, with the summit route heading to the left and the trailhead heading to the right. Most through hikers leave their packs at this junction to avoid lugging their heavy pack to the summit, and I added my pack to the pile and continued north towards Mount Whitney. But first, I needed to find Mount Muir, the last new California 14er of the trip. It was difficult to tell from the trail which of the various pinnacles it might be.
When I thought I had gone far enough, I scrambled up to the ridgeline, found that I was one notch too far south and quickly scrambled to the base of the standard class 3 route. There was a twosome on their way down from the summit yelling “Welcome to the private party!” It was easy to understand why, thousands of hikers pass this 14er just off the Whitney Trail every year and don’t take the extra 30 minutes to pay it a visit.
I had a photocopy of Secor’s route description in my pocket, hoping it would make sense once I was there. In the end it was unnecessary, the twosome coaching me through the route finding from below with a handful of tricky third class moves up the summit block. The most striking thing from the summit was looking down the 99 switchbacks to Trail Camp, a stark contrast from the year before when this area was completely buried in deep snow.
I scrambled back down and got back on the Mount Whitney Trail continuing on towards the summit. I was well acclimated and was passing the majority of the day hikers. I could certainly sympathize after our 20 hour day hike the year before, although it did feel quite “coming of age” to be doing so much better, even with the lingering back pain. When I reached the summit, I decided to spend a long time at the top, eating lunch and looking out across the Kaweahs and Owens Valley.
I had mixed feeling about finishing a day early with this final one going relatively well, but I still had 11 miles to go back to the trailhead. So I dropped off the summit back to my pack at the JMT junction and to the top of the 99 switchbacks. I was amazed by how the area looked almost unrecognizably different compared to the year before and I wove down the trail to Trail Camp where I was able to filter water for the first time since Guitar Lake. It was easy hiking along the South Fork of Lone Pine Creek back towards the trailhead, and I was quite excited to spot my first pika among the rubble.
I took another break at Mirror Lake then continued down the trail. I had to laugh when I passed the junction for Lone Pine Lake, getting lost in this spot with patches of snow the year before. It was late afternoon by the time I made it to Whitney Portal, early enough to get a proper celebratory dinner in Lone Pine before leading back to Los Angeles for a hot shower and some Icy Hot for my back.