Sunday, August 18
Start: campsite 1.0mi beyond Upper Vidette Meadow (9928′)
End: High Sierra Trail (10,411′)
Miles: 16.2
Elevation gain: 4298′
I was up around 4:45am but managed to go back to sleep until 5:40am; I was packed up and on trail by 6:30am. This morning was strictly climbing – up to Forester Pass (13,180′). There was a snow field we had to climb near the top but it wasn’t anything too extreme. At the pass, I met 3 PCT hikers and 7 other JMT sobo hikers, all planning on summiting Whitney on Tuesday morning.
I then descended to Shepherd Pass trail (10,935′), then climbed over Bighorn Plateau (11,410′) and descended to High Sierra Trail/Wright Creek (10,411′). I’d been debating hiking another 3-4 miles to the Crabtree campground area, but when I crossed Wright Creek, I saw that the creek had areas deep enough to swim in, so I decided to stop for the night at 3:30pm.
After my swim and dinner, it’s been hard to settle down. I only have 20.8 miles remaining, including the exit out to Whitney Portal. It’s also only 7.5 miles to Guitar Lake from here, which will not be enough miles to take up even half of the day tomorrow, so I’m thinking I might get up early and see how I feel once I hit Guitar Lake.
Transcending Mountains 