Pre-thoughts, Pre-trail.
Tuesday October 15, 2019 — Not only is my pack 29.5 lbs, and not only are we and planning to hike the tallest mountain in America, and not only are we planning to be on trail for the next 5-days, while attempting to hike two 14ers, when I haven’t even hiked my first one, but of course, this morning– I started my period.
This will be my longest trip on trail with her and I’m just hoping everything goes to plan. I mean, currently our plan is to hitch a ride back to our car from our ending trailhead…so yeah, that’s a huge possibility.
I’m having a good feeling about this though. I’m excited. It was a totally last minute decision, no time to physically nor mentally prep. Either way I’m excited. I’m all packed up and ready to head out. We leave tomorrow right after work!
Hello, from trail camp!
Wednesday October 16, 2019 — Hello, from trail camp! And I’m pretty amazed how easy it was to get here. I mean, it’s no walk in the park- that’s for sure, but here we are mid-October, I’m all layered up at the trailhead and within 2 or so miles, I’m down to my sports bra! My pack weighs a little more than I would like it to be, but for a 5-day supply, I am not complaining!
It’s cold, don’t get me wrong. I’m of course now all layered up at camp and don’t really want to get out of my tent. I had Mountain House Chicken Fajitas and made tacos for dinner. Second guessing if that was a smart choice, seeing as were climbing the tallest mountain in America early in the morning!
She was struggling a little bit on the trail. I’m surprised because she’s done this hike a few times already. I guess I’ve probably slowed her down that much this past year? There’s talk about possibly skipping the summit if we’re not up for it. But I say, we’ve already made it this far…
There are several other campers getting ready for bed early. Alarm set for 3:30, with a 4:30 start time. Bed early. Cramps and bloated. Tomorrow- we summit!
It’s just not safe? I’m sorry.
Thursday October 17, 2019 — Not happening. Not today. I’m calling it. It’s just not safe. That wind, are you kidding me?! I don’t know about you, but I slept like shit last night. I don’t even know if I got any sleep! My damn tent cover was flapping all night, hitting me in the face. It’s just not safe. Wether it be the weather or my lack of energy, there’s no possible way I feel safe enough to summit, I’m sorry.
So are we really just bailing on our 5-day journey on Day 2? Damnit. I feel bad..
After packing up and heading back to the car…I felt defeated. With canceled plans and no summit in sight. It was a quiet and short walk back down.
Say something Ness..
“Sooo…what’s the weather looking like tomorrow?” Any possibility of summiting tomorrow instead? Of course the weather looks perfect for tomorrow. As we’re waiting alongside the trail, a small group who had summited earlier that morning passed us by. They said it was extremely windy at the top, but usually always is. We contemplated going back. We had already hiked less than a mile from camp, headed back to the car, so..we turned around. I’m glad we turned around. We’re getting a second chance to summit. But what are we suppose to do all day?
As we headed back up to trail camp, knowing how much day we had left..we stopped for lunch. After lunch, we decided that we had just too much day left and we can explore other trails. That was our final choice. We were not going to summit Mount Whitney that day or the next, and we would not be completing our mini thru-hike. Not this time Whitney…
