We followed the route in the Sierra South book written by Kathy Morey and Mike White http://www.amazon.com/Sierra-South-Backcountry-Californias-Nevada/dp/0899974147/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411839985&sr=8-1&keywords=Sierra+South+by+Kathy+Morey. I'll be referring to that some of the time as I go through and try to remember the trail since it's a fuzzy memory right now, save for the pain that still throbs in my toes.
Here's a short description of the trail from the book:
"This dramatic trans-Sierra route follows the renowned High Sierra Trail from Crescent Meadow to Whitney Portal, visiting many classic Sierra points and crossing the Great Western Divide at Kaweah Gap and the Sierra Crest at Trail Crest, the Sierra's highest on-trail pass. From a junction near there, bagging Mt. Whitney's Summit is an integral part of this trip along the way. The High Sierra Trail is the quintessential Sierra crossing..." 67 miles.
As with any big thing that I try to accomplish in life, I do it with a sinus infection, and this time was no exception. I went into it with Augmentin and probiotics clutched in my hand, filling up my handkerchief with snot as fast as humanly possible.
We made it to the Lodgepole Visitor Center where we picked up our permit and Ranger Ben told us all the rules, Leave No Trace, and gave us each a wag bag for the Whitney Zone. You aren't allowed to poop in the Whitney Zone. Instead you have to take a crap in these plastic baggies that have kitty litter in them and then haul out the waste. There have gotten to be too many people up in the Mt. Whitney area and poop doesn't decompose well above 10,000 feet, so these wag bags have been instituted to keep the area cleaner.
Once we were done at Lodgepole, Dennis drove us the final 9 miles to the Crescent Meadow trailhead. We were excited, nervous, apprehensive and just couldn't believe the time had finally come after all our planning and conditioning.
As you can see, our packs were huge. We had to carry all 10 days worth of food since there are no resupply points at all along this trail as well as a monstrous bear can to hold all the food and toiletries. My pack weighed in at 49 pounds including food, water, and Gatorade. I had close to 15 pounds of food alone.
I gave Dennis and Pico hugs and kisses and then we started walking. Our destination was Merhten Creek, 5.5 miles to the east. From this first day, I remember gorgeous views, fluffy Dr. Seuss clouds, lots of trees and ferns, and a very heavy pack. I didn't know the types of trees as I walked but it turns out there were ponderosa and sugar pine, black oak, incense cedar, and white fir.
The book describes the terrain as "undulating" and the hiker's pace as "strolling". Sure it was undulating- as in up and down, up and down, up and down. And sure, we were strolling- as in moving very slow with enormously heavy packs.
Laurie fell down this first day. I think, as with all our falls that would occur, her feet just flew out from under her, and with the heavy pack, could not save it. We found out later that she had cut her forehead open, but we didn't know at the time because of the way her buff was situated.
We made it to Merhten Creek at around 6pm. This location rests at 7685 feet. We had to climb up a steep hillside to get to the bear box and it was pretty annoying to get up there. Once we were up there though, the views were stunning. Our little designated kitchen area overlooked the valley and distant mountains.
We got a visit from a mama deer and her fawns while we were eating dinner. They hung around for awhile to see what could be had.
Filtering water at Merhten Creek.
We laid out and watched the stars and the Milky Way after we ate. The stars got so dense it was unbelievable. We saw shooting stars and satellites. Finally it was too chilly so we gathered up our things, brushed our teeth, and crawled into our tents for the first of many nights.
It was a good day.
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