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Consultation
Lake.
Near Trail Crest and the base of the 99 switchbacks
lies Consultation Lake. The summit of Mt. McAdie (13,800') is in the
clouds. Arc Pass is the obvious low point on the ridge above the lake. |
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Whitney
Pinnacles.
Our first view of the
pinnacles on the Whitney crest. Believe it or
not, this photo and the one above were taken within seconds of one
another. The clouds that were hanging to the south had lifted
completely from these spires lying to the north. Mt. Muir (14,013') is the large peak with the shadow across its
eastern face. To the north are the incredible spires that lead from Trail Crest to Mt. Whitney. |
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Trail
Camp.
A slightly different
perspective seen from Trail Camp, showing the small lake that everyone uses for last
minute water refills. You will see tons of marmots getting suntans here. |
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Mt.
Muir and Trail Crest.
Trail Crest (not Trail Camp) is the low point on the ridge in this
photo (at the top of the snow gullies). Mt. Muir is the high point on the
right. The infamous 99 switchbacks
head up the slope at the middle left of the photo (in between the snow gullies leading down from Trail Crest and the cliff band on the left). |
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View
from the top of the switchbacks.
Griffin and I got to
Trail Camp at 8am, a long four hours after we left the car. We decided to
put our motors on at this point and jammed up the switchbacks, getting to the
top in about an hour and 20 minutes. This is a view of the switchbacks
from up high. Consultation Lake is at the right, and
Trail Camp sits on the rocks just to the right of the other small lake.
Click on the photo at left for more detail. |
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Atop
Trail Crest (13,600').
Normally, getting to
Trail Crest is a highlight of the hike, second only to attaining the
summit. This is because you are finally rid of the switchbacks, and the
views to the west over Sequoia NP are awe inspiring. Not
today. The clouds came in with a vengeance during our climb up the
switchbacks. So we took a photo of us standing at the trail sign and moved
on. |
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Behind
the Sierra Crest. I'd say Trail Crest is about 1/2 way to the summit from Trail Camp, so
just because you have the switchbacks behind you doesn't mean it is time to
relax. From here, you actually descend slightly and then wind on a
serpentine path with drop offs on either side.
Here's Griffin on the
backside of the pinnacles, just below Trail Crest. |
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Hitchcock
Lakes.
Strangely, the clouds
would lift at random intervals, giving us a teaser of the incredible views that
normally exist from this trail. Here, the Hitchcock lakes reveal
themselves for an instant through the fog.
In my opinion,
the hike from Trail Crest to the summit is the hardest part of the
climb because you are
above 13,500' the entire time and the summit looks so damn far away.
Again, not today -- we couldn't see the summit at all. |
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