[pct-l] Section G-Walker Pass to Whitney

[joph at piedmontbsa.org (joph@piedmontbsa.org)]

Thanks to all of you who provided info and links for our recent hike from
Walker Pass to Mt Whitney. I thought I?d let you know how we found
conditions there.

First of all, the good news. There was plenty of water where it was
supposed to be for the most part. I will update AsABat separately.

When we arrived at Walker Pass Friday  (7/29) at 2:30 p.m. it was close to
100 degrees. But thanks to many of you we were prepared for these
conditions and we sat and waited until about 4 p.m. By then it had cooled
to 90 degrees in the shade and we took off with great enthusiasm?just
happy to be back on the trail.

Despite the heat, this was a very peaceful hike. For those first two days
we saw not a soul. We slept under the stars and got up before dawn to take
advantage of the cooler early morning temperatures. The silence was so
complete at this time of day that it seemed to swallow our thoughts before
they could form.

We learned that there are other crazy people like us, although we didn?t
meet them. At Kennedy Meadows we noted in the register that Dylan Burge
(Orion) had signed in 7/31 (the day we were there) and wrote that he was
heading south for Tehachapi Pass (I mentally wished him well).

>From Kennedy Meadows the elevations increased and the temperatures became
cooler. Those who are following thru-hikers might be interested in the
following. On Monday night 8/1, we arrived at Dry Creek, cooked a meal and
went to sleep as the sun went down. At 10 p.m., my husband woke up
abruptly. Confused, he sat up yelling, ?bear.? Although all our food
except the sunscreen was in a bear barrel, he tends to react quickly being
the veteran of 33 face-to-face encounters with bears (what can I say?we
frequent Yosemite). The bear, scared out of its wits started yelling too.
It was then that my husband noticed that it was wearing a headlamp. After
things settled down, it turned out that the ?bear? was David (Sisyphus), a
thru-hiker who had hiked Campo to Kennedy Meadows, then flip-flopped from
Fish Lake Resort in Oregon and was planning to return there to continue
his journey North. He thought he was at the leading edge of a group of
hikers who were close behind, including Solid and Stripes, Rooky and some
others whose names I have forgotten. He also mentioned one thru-hiker had
been hospitalized out of Yosemite after suffering a severe allergic
reaction.

After summiting Mt Whitney (second time for us), we ended our hike at
Whitney Portal around 1:30 p.m. yesterday (8/4). On our journey we saw
very little snow, Only the rushing waters of Whitney Creek, Rock Creek,
Cow Creek (and even the South Fork of the Kern) remain to remind us of our
snowy winter.

Thank you again for the pre-hike info.

Fish and Chips