Friday, August 15, 2008

Been Gone So Long: Mt. Whitney, other updates


I can't remember the last time I posted anything on my Blog, so some sort of excuse should be in order.
It seems like forever since I returned from the Eastern Sierras, but I do want to provide a short update on activities outside my music-listening universe.
Four friends and I scored our day permits and made the hike up Mt. Whitney on Tuesday, July 29.
Without going into every detail of the day-long hike, I will tell you we left at 3 a.m. sharp from the Whitney Portal and I arrived at the top of the mountain - 14,497 feet high - a few minutes before noon. I still can't believe it took me 9 hours to hike the 10.7 miles up the mountain, and just over 6 hours to hike down, but it did. The photo you see here was taken by one of my pals right after I made it to the top of Mt. Whitney. I didn't know if I could make it to the top; the last mile or so it very difficult and I had to stop often to catch my breath.
It was an absolutely beautiful day and incredible experience. Worth all the pain, blisters and fatigue it took to make it. I should also mention all the training hikes dating back to last year played a part too. Congrats to my friends (Tom Dubuque, Scott Tyrrell, Jon Ferguson) who made it and it was great Ron Bronsgeest made it to Trail Camp too (that is as far as I made it in 2007).

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