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On The Trail |
This page may take a while to load. It contains a lot of photographs! However, they are in thumbnail format so they are small. You can click on the photos to enlarge them to full size.
| Our group left in two bunches. One group of five left the portage at 3:30 AM and everyone else left at 4:00 AM. We used headlamps but some discovered that the moon was bright enough to show the way without them. Along the way (in the dark), some of us came upon a woman changing (or at least not wearing too much) and many found it pretty funny to watch the headlamps light her up in a spotlight each time someone passed by. The only bad thing about hiking in the dark was that we missed a lot of beauty along the way (but we got to see it on the way back). |
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The sunrise was spectacular! These photos are facing East towards Lone Pine, CA. |
| This picture shows a portion of the trail while still below the timber line. |
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| Frequent breaks are necessary to catch breath, give your feet a break, adjust equipment, take in fluids and food, and to soak up the scenery! Breaks are especially fun with friends! |
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| The last place to pump water is at the lake by Trail Camp. We also found that on the way back down the snow run-off on the switchbacks produced excellent freezing-cold water. It's a good idea to refill your water bottles and bladders here on the way up because water intake is important. However, if you look at our technical data, you'll see that many folks did not drink much more than they initially carried. There are a lot of "friends" on the trail that will probably donate to the unprepared but it's always a good idea to avoid running out of the most important thing you'll carry...water! |
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| These shots contain a variety of scenery along the way. |
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| These are just a few of the infamous 97 consecutive "killer" switchbacks on the trail between "Trail Camp" (12,000') and "Trail Crest" (13,777'). This trail was built in 1904 by Gustafe Marsh along with his fellow citizens of Lone Pine, CA. These people must have been really bored! The U.S. Forest Service and volunteer groups maintain the trail now. |
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The trails along the ridge between Trail Crest and the boulder fields was amazing. The trail builders must have been extremely challenged by this feat! They had to literally pile up a puzzle of boulders and rock to create a passable trail for the rest of us. The view was spectacular (see above)! |
| The views between the needles and along the ridge above Trail Crest are spectacular! |
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The first picture is an excellent picture of the summit (showing the cabin on top). You'll want to click on it to enlarge it. All pictures show portions of the vast boulder field that must be crossed before reaching the summit. For some of us, this was one of the toughest portions of the climb because we had to cross roughly 3 miles of boulder fields (mostly well-marked trails) in thin air after an exhausting 97 switchbacks. Along the way, these needles appear to be summits because you're well below them and you can't judge height. Unless you know what to expect ahead of time, you may think you're almost there only to round the bend and find another "summit" off in the distance! The two peaks before the summit are Keeler Needle and Day Needle which are due south of the summit |
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