Onion Valley to Mount Whitney, Day Four; Wright Creek to Guitar Lake

We recently completed a five day, four night backpacking trip from Onion Valley to Mount Whitney. This trip covers the southernmost section of the John Muir Trail.

Day four:  Wright creek to Guitar Lake.

Distance: 8 miles.
Elevation: start: 10,680 feet. Highest: 11,470 at Guitar lake.
Total gain/loss :  ~2,200 feet total gain, ~1200 feet total loss.

Slept in till 7  ( latest morning of the trip; four hours earlier than the following day would be for reasons forthcoming).

Lots of up and down between the Bighorn plateau and Crabtree (Junction with the Pacific crest Trail). Hence, elevations for this day are estimates at best.

Snack break here. About 2 to 3 miles from camp.

Most of the trees indicated the direction of wind which is generally west to east, away from the Pacific.

 

There were a lot of cool trees. I've tried to limit the number out of fear of being labeled a treehugger, but I thought this one was really cool.

This is where the Pacific crest Trail joins the John Muir Trail. Beyond this point, the rest of our trip and the John Muir trail would be a detour for Pacific crest Trail hikers  (one taken on by many). The red box in the back is full of "wag bags". These are for pooping in.  Pooping in the dirt is not allowed beyond this point so you either have to have really good timing (20 miles of hiking to go) or poop in a bag. It's just too cold, too high, and there are too many people for the poop to decompose quickly enough.   I oppted for the timing method (AKA the prairie dog method), which is easier than one would think thanks to the low residue backpackers' diet of mostly processed foods and no fruits or vegetables.

Timberline lake, on the way up to Guitar Lake, our night 4 destination

Many of these Alpine Lakes are full of trout (you can see one in the water of Timberline Lake). They were stocked many years ago by aircraft. The Park service encourages fishing and eating of fish because they eat some kind of rare tadpole, damaging the native frog population.  

Alpine meadows above Timberline Lake.

Campsite in front of Guitar Lake on night 4. We arrived at 1:30 and quickly had to make dinner and pitch our tent before the storm which we felt in our gut would likely be coming. Camping above the timberline with the coming thunderstorm, we chose an area in a low spot far from the water

Before 

After

Packed in ice.

The only downside to our location was that ice water was flowing underneath our tent and we had to move our backpacks out of the vestibule into the tent and cut some ditches to direct the water away.  

 

The hail ripped into the tent so hard that we could only see the lightning but the thunder could barely be perceived over the roar.  I worried the tent could rip.  

 

When the hail slowed down, the bowl shaped granite peaks and walls surrounding the area functioned as an amplifier, intensifying the volume (already quite loud at 11,500 feet) and increasing the duration.  The thunder was as close as two "Mississippi " from the lighting and lasted as long as "18 Mississippi ".  

 

The whole experience was reminiscent of the story of Elijah :“The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””

1 Kings 19:11-13

Snowman in July- who could resist?

A reward for patient endurance- again, this is over 180 degrees, so the skyline is distorted (hence, the dark peak on the left and the light one on the right) but it does capture the moment. The camera was definitely too small for this one. Had to get to bed for 3 AM start for our final 16 mile / 3000 foot day in the morning.