Saturday June 23
Mount Whitney
I wake up miserable. My ankle has hurt all night. I consider my options: hike to Kearsarge slowly with a full pack, take a zero and miss Whitney because I’ll run out of food, or slack pack to Whitney and see how it goes. I empty my pack, bring all the ibuprofen I have. I end up taking none. It works. I reach the Summit at 12:30. The views are incredible. Its one postcard after another. I let the woman whose picture I took with her camera take my picture with my iPhone. I forget to check . When I look at it later, it’s all black.
Rarely have I felt so alive. On the way back I take a wrong turn and get lost for about 20 minutes or so. It makes the wilderness experience even better. When I get back to camp I’m too tired to cook a meal.