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Day 22: Tue Aug 12, 1997

Trail map from Outpost Camp to Trail Camp

 Sharleen said she had to get up at about 4 am so I went along to the solar powered latrine. The sky was crystal clear and very full of stars. We watched a bit before and longer after the bathroom run. The Perseid meteor shower was at or near its peak and we saw about 1 meteor a minute, some bright. One left a trail for several seconds. Got back to bed and slept some more.

From Outpost Camp to Trail Camp

Got up and tried to get the food down from the bags in the tree. A long stick helped and it wasn't too much trouble, spent more time getting knots out of the rope. Cooked up some breakfast (hot cereal, I'd rather have spaghetti), and packed everything up. Helen said she was going back down so we continued on our way up alone. Lots of switchbacks and a few lakes. Good scenery.

Our campsite at Outpost Camp, same spot Hulda Crooks used to camp in.

Looking the opposite way, a waterfall drops into Outpost Camp.

View from above Mirror Lake which is seen in the lower left. Lone Pine Lake is barely visible on the next level down beyong the lighter green and darker green as a pale blue patch. The distant mountains are the opposite side of Owens Valley.

Mountain stream and wildflowers.

Small meadow.

Stream cutting through a snowfield.

Trail Camp

We visited with people on the way up, took lots of rest stops, and finally made it to Trail Camp. It was at 12000 feet, and 2 1/2 miles from our start that morning. We looked around for a reasonable tent site, hung our food bags over a rock to keep it from the marmots, and set up the tent. There were little brown birds hanging around, very tame, one ate from my hand. Noticed some sunburn on my arms but the air was chilly so I put on a jacket. Then we grabbed some snacks from the foodbags (that was a bit involved) and went off to sit on a rock by the small lake at the camp and write up these notes.

A peak called Wotans Throne overlooks the lake by Trail Camp. This small lake was our water source while at the camp, we pumped it through a filtering system. The camp is at 12000 feet elevation.

Walked around the far side of the small lake, didn't have a name on the map. It was very scenic, grassy with wild flowers. We crossed the stream on rocks and climbed on some snow to get to the trail on the camp side of the lake. Saw Faraneh in her yellow tent (we had talked to her on the way up) and talked to her for awhile, she is Persian. Took her photo for the web. Went back to the tent and s . . . [interruption at this point, explained in text] started packing the day pack when I heard a munching noise. It was a marmot stealing our food, it got the dates and chewed into the grapes. They had been lying on a rock just behind me about 15 feet away. I searched for and found the date bag, chewed up.

Faraneh came by to boil some water on our stove and eat with us. She had carried a 45 lb pack up the mountain, from Whitney Portal where we had parked. She shared some of the food she had carried up, heavy stuff like carrots, celery, apples, and insisted that we take some apples and rolls which we saved for breakfast the next day. She cooked up some pasta and we made some less tasty split pea soup (again). We had gone to filter water while she was boiling hers and she said a ranger had come by wondering if our tent was too close to the water (100 foot minimum). I restarted the stove which had gone out (the directions had warned against restarting a hot stove but I did it anyway and nothing exploded) and we continued cooking. A ranger came by and said our tent was ok. He wanted to check our passes, passes are needed to go beyond Lone Pine Lake. Ours was in order. Faraneh asked if he wanted to check hers, he found a problem and took it to his boss. She came back to talk to Faraneh, and said there was nothing right about her pass - it was a xerox copy of the pass her group had coming from the other side, she was to connect with them on top. I asked if we could put her on our pass since we had one for 4 people but there were only 2 of us left. I was told "Stay out of this, you have nothing to do with it". I said "OK" and went back to my soup. Faraneh explained she was to meet her boy friend and his group but the ranger was firm and said everybody has excuses. The final outcome was a $50 fine which Faraneh accepted. I drifted over and suggested she ask her boy friend to pay it and that got a chuckle from everyone. If you want to hike up Mt. Whitney, make sure you get a proper pass.

We cleaned up from supper, visited the latrine, and went to bed. The night before I had worn very little to bed, this time I bundled up with the long underwear I had brought just for Trail Camp. Wasn't as cold as expected.

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