Four Extremes: Mt. Whitney Summit!

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:59:59 -800

Derrick and I made it to the top of the mountain
about 9:20am. At 14,494 feet above sea level, this makes it the highest peak
in the lower 48 United States. At the top there's a small stone shack that was
built in the 1960s to provide toilet facilities at the top; now guests are
required to blue bag it, and the hut merely holds the guest register. The view
from the top is of course spectacular; you can see the mountain ranges
extending out for miles in every direction, and what would be high altitude
clouds from the ground are now low clouds that seem like they're so close that
you can touch them! By the time we plodded to the top there were plenty of
other climbers, mostly from other parts of California. We stayed at the top
for nearly an hour, just basking in the glow of the sun and watching the
critters running around trying to get a meal.