When We Hiked Mount Whitney in One Day

Why hike Mount Whitney in one day when you could get an overnight pass? Honestly the thought process was I would rather just walk a lot farther all at once, than carry more weight for a longer period of time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don’t know you, you do you! Here is what you should know though:

Mount Whitney is in Sequoia National Park and known as the “the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states” standing 14,508 ft.
Elevation gain for the hike is about 6,100 ft, it ends up being about 22 miles roundtrip.
You need a permit (bottom of the page has a lottery timeline, you apply at recreation.gov) for day use or for overnight adventuring. This is open once a year from February to mid March, then notifications are emailed out. You have a month to accept your reservation.
- IT’S VERY COMPETITIVE. Your best bet is to have multiple people in your party apply for a variety of different dates since so many people are probs applying for all the ideal dates.
- In 2015 I entered and got entry no problem, but I ended up not being able to go. In 2016 myself and two friends entered, only one of us got approved, which is what enabled us to take this trip.
I applied for the “Mt. Whitney Trail-JM35″ for entry/exit.

Really 22 miles did not sound like it was going to be too bad, but I really struggle with elevation. It feels like a toddler is sitting on my chest and I can’t breathe. I live at sea level so the “training” I could do for this was more or less just rucking (hiking with weight) and hoping for the best, because getting substantial elevation training wasn’t a readily accessible option.

No one died so everything is fine! I just whined a lot on the way down!!

Picking Up Your Permit

(0:04)

I love this little tag, I still have it. This is your permit for day use of the mountain. At the Eastern Sierra Visitor Center where you need to pick it up they also instruct you on how to use your no-waste bag when on the trail.

Call Time: Midnight

(0:11)

You’ll notice the timestamps I put on here to emphasize the absurd times we were conscious to take part in this experience. Our pass was for a Tuesday so we drove to Lone Pine on Monday (day prior), stayed the night and got up at midnight to begin our excursion.

Hiking at Night is Weird

(0:17 – 0:30)

I admit this is not the most riveting footage. But this was around the time between being half awake and having too much adrenaline that I was like “wait, what the fuck are we doing? why are we awake right now? who’s idea was this?!” So I wanted to remember this moment when everything was dark, and I did not realized I would not know where I was on the way back – because it was pitch black. Cool cool cool.

All the Rocks

(0:33 – 0:43)

It was really trippy not being able to see any terrain and not being 100% sure we were always on the trail. It wasn’t until we were a few hours in I could see the rocks and composition.

OMG THE SUN!!

(0:55 – 1:00)

After already being on the trail for about 7 hours is when we saw the sun come up. Honestly I would have been satisfied with just that, it was breathtaking.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BI6PpZhjdfQ/

The other side

(1:09 – 1:30)

Something I hadn’t really anticipated was getting colder the longer I hiked. Which makes sense because we were gaining elevation, but the fact that there was still some ice and snow in the shadows on the backside of the mountain in August was crazy to me. Also, look at those crazy rock formations!

Happy Accident Footage

(1:40 – 1:49)

By the end of the hike I was pretty cranky from both the elevation and probably not eating enough calories. I don’t remember how my GoPro was attached to my pack but most of the footage at the end was not deliberate, but I’m glad it happened.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t packed enough food, I just really didn’t want any of it by the time we were up there. The mileage was less of a problem, I remember having a headache probably because when I’m colder I feel like I don’t need to drink water – WHICH IS FALSE.

Me, quietly trying to eat my peanut-butter-chia-seed-sandwich and hope that a nice helicopter volunteers to take me to the nearest In-n-Out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BI8HOnrDC-F/

The Hardest Part

The way down.

I will go up all day long, but the way down wreaked havoc on my ankles and knees. There were parts where I was walking backwards to alleviate the impact, but with 11 miles to go down it was bound to be uncomfortable.

It was also super disorienting to hike back in broad daylight to where you had been in the dark. Like most of my day had been on top of rocks, but we had actually started in thick forest. So knowing when we were “almost done” was impossible.

In Sum

Would I do it again? Maybe, but I would prefer to experience more new things.
Note to self: pack a cheeseburger for the next summit.
Anyone who does this without trekking poles is a dummy or an Amazon.