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Some after the trip comments

If you intend to hike up Mount Whitney make sure you plan ahead. It is important to obtain the proper permit to allow backcountry camping and also to enter the Whitney Zone. Even a day hike from Whitney Portal and back requires a permit, don't try to get by without one unless you don't mind paying a fine (maybe $100). Links with permit details are available in the Whitney section of this web site. Also make sure you are in shape for the hike. We practiced on sections of the Appalachian Trail during the spring leading up to the trip. I found the Appalachian Trail to be harder than hiking up Whitney, it is steeper in some places and also the weather was hotter and more humid. Our pace up Whitney was slow enough I didn't even really sweat, partly due to the nice weather. Also be aware that the high altitude can cause serious problems for some people, in fact some fraction of the population is not able to deal with the limited oxygen so Mount Whitney is forever out of their reach. Be perpared for hot and cold weather, rain and even snow or hail. Be very careful to protect in some way against sunburn which can be serious in the high thin air. I didn't use any sunblock, I wore long sleeve shirts and long pants and put a thin scarf over my ears and neck holding it in place with a cap. Make sure you have a good water supply. Even for a day hike it might make sense to carry a water filtration system, make sure you drink a lot to avoid dehydration. Water is fairly abundant along the trail but must be filtered to be safe. If camping along the way make sure you have along some rope. I picked up a 50 foot length of nylon cord, didn't think I'd use it. But we did, both to hang food bags in trees to protect from bears and to hang food bags over rocks to protect from marmots and mice. Make sure you have a number of small stuff bags along for such purposes. Some kind of quick energy snack is also very useful, we had along a number of Cliff Bars. We also had some hiking sticks, collapsible poles made for fishing. While on the Appalachian Trail I asked hikers with hiking sticks if they helped, they all said yes. The collapsible sticks are light and easy to throw in a pack. But when very cold (below freezing) the bungy cord holding the sections together expands (sounds odd, but both ours did it) and the sections may come apart. Of course make sure you have the obvious equipment, shoes, clothes, tent, stove, supplies, and so on. Don't forget a good map, it makes the hike more interesting.

After the trip a solution to the computer battery problem was found, I noticed a power inverter at Walmart. That's a small box (about half the size of the laptop) that plugs into the car's cigarette lighter and has a socket for 115 volts. The computer works very well using it. This now allows using the CD-ROM drive in the laptop instead of the second battery while using the computer in the car. Also Sharleen found a small lap-table at Sam's, haven't tried it yet but we had been looking for one.

A number of people helped in various ways to make this trip possible or easier or more interesting. Chris Fenstermacher fed and visited with our cats most of the time we were gone (here is a picture of her and her cats). Earl her husband, and Margaret her mother also helped. Sharleen's brother Ed also helped with the cats and watched the house. A few people followed along as I put the trip on the web, ones that come to mind are Fenstermachers, Dean West, Don Schwert, Matthew Powell, and perhaps a few others. George and Konnie Plue, Bob and Valerie Miller, my cousin Paul Martin, and Helen Hayes all opened their homes and took good care of us. Peggy Gaudy, an archeologist in New Mexico, invited us to stay with her when we visited. But our schedule didn't allow enough time, I'm sure we missed out on a good visit, she will be high on our priorities list next time. Ron Smith, a member of our astronomy club, gave us a lot of valuable information for our hike up Mount Whitney, with his advice we avoided a lot of trouble and really enjoyed our hike.

These web pages were made using Word97 on a laptop computer. Surprisingly Word97 really messed up the web pages when not used carefully. The HTML formatting codes were directly entered in Word97's HTML mode. This worked ok, but a later attempt to edit in normal mode would mess up the pages badly. The procedure that worked was to call up the web page in Word97, then without making any changes go directly to HTML mode and save any changes from there. The whole process of writing the text and adding the photos took far more effort than expected. But it allows the trip to be shared with a wide audience, some of whom may not be able to make it for themselves for various reasons. If somebody out there enjoys these pages it will have been worthwhile.

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