Climbing Mt. Whitney - July 2003

Our first view of Mt. Whitney	Here I am climbing the 97 switchbacks, almost to the crest of the Sierra Nevada.
At the summit!! (That's me on the left, with my best friend Sandy.)	When you reach the top, you're still only halfway to the end... Here we are at the end of the hike, after 22 miles (and thirteen-and-a-half hours) of hiking.

Mount Whitney is in the Sierra Nevada, on the east edge of Sequoia National Park. Its summit is 14,494 feet above sea level, making Mt. Whitney the highest peak in the "lower 48" states.

Most sane people hike up this mountain in two or three days, camping partway up; but camping permits are very hard to get, and...well, Sandy and I are a little crazy. So we did the hike in one long, long day, starting at 3:00 in the morning (with headlamps to see the trail) and getting back to the trailhead at 4:30 in the afternoon. It was an amazing experience, spectacular beyond anything I had imagined.

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