Mount Whitney Part I: Hike to Trail Camp

Thursday morning we loaded up our rented vehicle (we don’t trust our cars right now) and took off for a weekend we will never forget.

We had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into!!!

Don’t you just love the random things you find at truck stops?!

Check out this sign…seriously!

I packed us some fun snacks and made us the best play list!

Love these Annie’s Grahams 🙂

On our way to base camp, we stopped by Manzanar National Historic Site. Of course being the History nut that I am, (yep that was my major in college) I couldn’t wait!

“In 1942, the United States government ordered more than 110,000 men, women, and children to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military-style camps. Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were interned during World War II.”

Life Changing!

We watched a movie about the History behind Manzanar. It was so informational and well put together. I pray nothing like this every happens AGAIN!

We took the driving tour and took some extra time at the beautiful cemetery.

Then it was off to base camp where we spent our first night acclimating to the elevation. We started at a 3727 feet and would be hiking up to 14,000+!

Isn’t tent set up the best 😉

Tom and Alannah

How many people does it take to put up a two man tent???

At the Ranger Station we were given a Bear Box to carry with us at all times. We had to stick ALL of our food in it! Let’s just say we condensed 😉

I only brought cans for the first night of dinner, there was no WAY I was lugging any cans.

Thanks to our good friends Heather and Josh. We were all hooked up with a lot of great camping gear; our packs, head lamps, stove, pots, tent, and 30 degree sleeping bags!

We used this mini stove to cook all of our food on. It worked PERFECTLY!

For Mama and Papa Bear

I also had some leftover salad from our Subway lunch.

First night’s dinner was a success!

mmm…

A little too hot 😉

In the evenings, we spent time reading and…

being silly of course 🙂

Head lamps are fun, so need one of these! My first night of sleep was ROUGH!! I got maybe an hour or two of shut eye. I kept hearing weird noises and I imagined the BEARS jumping into our tent!!

When we got up, I was ready for breakfast to start our day with plenty of energy. Thanks to Nature’s Path I was able to pack some of their hearty oatmeal!

Along with a cup of Via.

I added 1/2 banana and some AB to the mix.

Packed and ready to GO!!

OH MAN check out this pack!

Hubby was ready to go to..silly boy.

Guess what? I brought the Canon! I swung by Target on the way out and found this super small camera bag that fits my camera perfect and it was only $20! It has some nice side pockets too for chap stick and snacks.

Here we all are wide eyed and energetic for our 22 mile hike!! We will first hike to Trail Camp, 6 strenuous glorious miles up and 9,000 elevation gain!!!

So glad I got to experience this with my best friend.

Weigh in time. My bag was 35 pounds! That’s the same amount of weight I lost. Let’s just say I never want to GAIN that back again!

Here we GO!

I tried to do a little Tree Pose..BAD IDEA!!!

I forgot I had a HUGE pack on my bag.

My snacks on the trip were Clif Bars and Apples.

At mile one were all HOT and drained…this was going to be a long hike!

How far are WE? Only a mile!!

Well instead of complaining about the heat, the weight of the pack, and the HILLS…………

I enjoyed God’s beauty!

We used a hand pump to get fresh water from the creek. The water tasted AMAZING!

Hubby enjoyed the fun bridges we got to take through the trail.

Lunch time. TUNA 🙂

On a Bagel Thin.

This is where we enjoyed lunch 🙂

Mirror Lake

Alright lunch break over time to tackle this!

Are you kidding me?!

After two more super rocky miles we took another break at the most beautiful meadow.

Then we were off to climb the hardest part of this trail. Can you see Hubby?

Do you see him now??

Yep there was still snow up on the mountain. I just had to touch it!

YES WE MADE IT TO TRAIL CAMP, 12,000 ft elevation!!!! What a long day, it only took us 6 HOURS! We were exhausted!!

Time to find a ROCK to camp out on and set up the tent again. This time it was much easier.

This would be our water source for the evening.

Oh and look what we get to go potty in..Yep POOP BAGS!!

Before it got dark I got straight to making dinner.

Teriyaki Noodles for me 🙂

Ramen Noodles for Him

Alannah was a life saver and braided my hair!

Felt great!! I wish I knew how to French braid, it’s the perfect camping hair 🙂

We didn’t have to worry about bears out here, just Marmots!! Their actually kinda cute!

Night Night… Tomorrow I will be doing the full recap of our climb to Mt.Whitney!!