Whitney or Won't He?

Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states, rises like the phoenix from the western rim of the Great Basin Desert of California. At an elevation of 14, 495 feet, Whitney looms high above Death Valley, the lowest point in North America at 262 feet below sea level, less than 100 miles to the east.

Mt. Whitney is the most frequently climbed peak in the Sierra Nevadas, and perhaps the entire U.S. The summit can be most directly reached via a 10.7-mile trail from Whitney Portal, 13 miles west of of Lone Pine. Ice axes and crampons are needed in spring and early summer, but technical climbing equipment is not usually necessary between mid-July and early October. During snow-free summer months, some individuals in excellent physical condition, can climb to the summit and return the same day.

Having said all that, I am hoping to hike it some day and that day maybe this August. My friend Debbie and her friends have done the hike before and this year they are doing it on her 50th birthday. They have ten permits and there might be room for me. So I am keeping my fingers crossed and I am putting in the miles too.

A few weeks ago, I put in a record week of 81 miles and followed up that mega week with a 18 miler to start off the next week. I ended up doing 72 miles in the following week too. During these weeks, I saw Debbie and her friends out there walking and finally decide to find out what they were doing and that is how I heard about their Mt Whitney plans.

Now I am mainly putting in all the miles to try and walk a half marathon in the same time as my 2:50 marathon PR. So at first, I was mainly interested in walking with them just for a workout but now I am interested in doing the Whitney hike too.

So on a really hot day before July 4th, I joined them for a hike. The plan was to meet at the pistol range at Hart Park and do some hills for 4 hours and 20 minutes. I meet Debbie and her two friends at a little after 6am and we loaded up on water and then started the day with a nice slog up the pistol range hill. Nothing like a nice mile long hill to start your day.

We took the trail to the fence line that runs along the bike path and eventually runs into the bike path at the top of the hill. This is the hill that the BTC summer series runs up. At least there was a breeze and it was downhill. Then we crossed Alfred Harrell and head for the Lake Ming campgrounds for some water.

The campground was filled to the gills and sadly some felt they needed to put police tape all around the perimeter of their campsite. Now I know there have been some brawls out at Hart Park recently but do you really need to put up the crime scene tape before the crime? At least the river was beautiful! It was also quite high and running fast and I hope the campers had the good sense to stay out of it.

Now the turnaround time was approaching and we were glad because as we walked around the lake, there was no breeze at all. We almost went 7 miles before turning around. The return trip was a lot hotter and walking up the bike path was ugly. But the rolling hills after the bike path really took it out of our legs. One last indignity was having to walk down the pistol range hill after a four hour hike.

After we were done, we all felt pretty good but hot. At least MT Whitney won't be hot. What does concern me is not the climb up but the walk down because downhills kill my legs. But from what I hear the descend of any climb is the hard part.

After doing 14 miles in the morning, I got in another 3 in the evening for 17 miles for the day. Saturday was very hot but I got in another 7 miles and logged 62 miles for the week.

This week, I need to do another 80 mile week and hope to do a 100 miles in a week this summer. To kick off my second 8 mile week, I put in a 14 mile on the bike path. I live near the Enos Lane 15 mile sign so I walked to the Enos 8 mile sign with a pit stop at Bagel & Blenders on the way out. Nothing like a egg bagel and a drink to keep you going on a warm Sunday morning. Unlike the rather slow going Hart Park hills walk, I averaged under 15 minute miles on this walk. I could feel the Hart walk right from the start though. To go sub three hours in the half marathon one must walk 13:44 pace.

When I am trying to put in a big week, I like to pile on the miles early in the week and not have to kill myself later in the week. So Sunday night, I put in another 6 miles to get in twenty for the day. Today, I put 5 miles in the morning and 8 in the evening and am up to 33 miles for the week already. Over 4 days, I got in 57 miles altogether.