-Molly Absolon
The Plan
This was planned as a 4 day trip.
Day 1 – Kearsarge Pass acclimation hike and camping (acclimation) at Onion Valley Campground
Day 2 – hanging out at camp, last minute supply shopping and stay in Lone Pine for the night
Day 3 – Mt. Whitney Day hike
Day 4 – drive home in time for work
For more specific details, look here:
Mt. Whitney Trip Planning, September 6-8 2014
The Outcome
Day 1
The trip got off to a rough start – we had several delays getting to Onion Valley and as a result had to cut our acclimation hike short. I had hoped to hike until we had a nice view of Heart Lake, if not all the way to Kearsarge Pass. We ended up turning around at Gilbert Lake.
Day 2
We decided to eat breakfast in Bishop instead of cooking at camp. We packed up quickly and killed some time in Bishop & Lone Pine until we were able to check into our hotel. We started napping/sleeping around 5 pm.
Day 3
We started hiking around 3:30 am and made great time (7 hr ascent pace) until it started raining as we neared Lone Pine Lake. We continued hiking in the hopes that the weather would pass by the time we reached Trail Camp.
As we neared Outpost Camp, we saw lots of people descending. In general, they said that the weather got really nasty for a bit, but it had started to clear since they packed up and left camp. Many encouraged us to continue our hike, thinking that the worst of the weather was over. We decided that we would continue hiking, but turn around at the first sign of thunderstorms.
As we started getting daylight, the sky was looked like it was clearing to the east, but not towards Trail Crest. We decided to hike to Trail Camp and most likely turn around there.
After arriving at Trail Camp, it was quite obvious that we needed to turn around. Although we could occasionally see some blue sky above Trail Crest, the clouds were moving quickly and we had no idea what was headed our way from King’s Canyon. We filtered water and hung out for about 30 mins hoping that the weather would miraculously clear up, but we all knew that wasn’t going to happen.
A few minutes after I took the last picture above, a black mass of clouds rolled over the top of Trail Crest. A few seconds later we were hit with a very strong and cold gust of wind (I’d guess >40 mph), followed by some large hail. We finished filtering, and headed down the mountain.
Once we got below Trailside Meadow, the hike was mostly uneventful and pleasant. We had a few gusts of wind and an occasional sprinkle, but nothing crazy. We often saw clouds coming up the valley towards us (warm air masses), while we could see clouds to the south headed down the mountain (cold air masses).
As we neared the trailhead as well as drove back down to Lone Pine, we could see that we clearly made the right decision. This storm wasn’t going anywhere and anyone left of the mountain was be dealing with some adverse conditions.
Back at the hotel, we decided to nap for a couple hours, then drive home. On the drive we were treated to some amazing clouds and a nice view of the supermoon.
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