Cold night last night/early morning…down in the low 30s. I stayed warm enough. The down pants are surprisingly warm…almost too warm. Will probably make use of the double zipper in my sleeping bag and unzipped the lower part.
Day full of great views. Took breaks at some beautiful lakes and meadows and overlooks. Pretty amazing show much beauty we see in one day.
Had a tough climb in the afternoon, but we all powered through it. Other than that, most of the day was rolling on the side of the mountains. Caught several views of Whitney and the surrounding peaks.
At the end of the day we came to Crabtree Meadows where there were 10 deer grazing in the meadow. They knew we were there, but are probably accustomed to seeing hikers come by. Also saw several marmots. As we approached our campsite, there was someone cleaning a couple brook trout that he had just caught in the small stream.
Lots of folks camping at this meadow as it is a good launch point for PCT hikers to start up Whitney. Last Minute welcomed us to paradise on arrival and we spent some time chatting with other hikers that had climbed Mt Whitney today. A couple where doing some work on an ingrown toe nail of Ruby Locks, but otherwise all was good, and they were all pretty amped about the hike up the mountain that they did today.
This area is about as close to Shangra-La that I have ever seen.
Daily Distance: 25
Trip Distance: 687.4
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