[pct-l] Mountain Boogie Man Strikes Again

[Hiker97 at aol.com (Hiker97@aol.com)]

I was thinking about this 24-hour  Mt. Whitney sunrise hike.  I think I could 
leave Whitney Portal at  noon and hiked to Trail Camp.  That is 5 miles str
aight up the tail and  let's say I get there at 6 P.M. Then I could eat and take 
a Meritorious Combat  Nap.  Of course, I am taking my O2 bottle too.
 
I could get up at 11 P.M. and head  up the 98-switchbacks to Trail Crest and 
then over to the top.  May be  sunrise would be around 5:30 A.M. or something 
like that.  Should be no  problem.  Then all I have to do is be back at the 
Whitney Portal parking  lot by noon.  I know from experience it takes me around 
5 hours to make it  from the top to the parking lot.  Of course I would want 
to go up on a  full-moon cloudless night with my headlamp.
 
VICTORY!  Another  mountaineering milestone completed.
 
I could have stayed on top several  years ago at the end of a solo High 
Sierra Trail (I consider this the premiere  hiking trail in the world) hike from 
Giant Forest.  When I got to the top  there were several people there resting 
and taking pictures.  It was later  in the afternoon.  Soon everyone had left 
and I was alone.  I had  planned on camping at the top to see the sunrise the 
next morning.
 
Presently, I got scared being alone  on top, so I bailed and headed down the 
trail as fast as I could go.   The Mountain Boogie Man got to me at 14,496 
feet.  May be the Lone Pine hot  tub at the Dow Motel and dinner at the 
Merry-Go-Round restaurant after the  High Sierra Trail hike had some influences too.  
But I think it was mainly  being chicken.
 
Hey!!! I am not afraid of being a  chicken.
 
Your hiking buddy,  Switchback
Trail Rascal & Camp Scaredie  Cat