Death Valley National Park
Mt. Whitney East Buttress
Mt. Muir
Kings Canyon National Park
Sequoia National Park
Yosemite National Park
Channel Islands National Park
Laura and I were off on our next adventure with the plan to do some climbing in the sierras, so we headed off to California for a week of fun and games. We had originally talked about climbing Mt. Whitney and the Thunderbolt to Sill traverse and then heading up to Yosemite for a few days but the tables turned and I had some serious foot problems limiting the amount of walking I could do.
We flew into Las Vegas and stayed the day with Laura's sister and then we drove out to Death Valley National Park. Hot at 113 degrees in bad water basin, we did some car touring and a few short walks into different areas we thought were interesting.
That evening we drove over to Lone Pine, near Mt. Whitney and headed for a climbing shop to try to get some information on where to camp in the area. We ended up meeting Leanne, who was hanging out at the shop and happened to work at the National Forest office. She gave us a lot of information about camping and how to obtain permits for Whitney. We decided to camp just 15 minutes away from town in an area called the Alabama Hills. It is a great area full of unique rocks and features that are uncommon to our home in Colorado.
The next morning, we headed over to the permit office. There were a lot of people there looking for overnight permits but we were lucky and got a one day permit. With our plan set, we headed back to the Alabama Hills to do some climbing, had a big dinner to fuel ourselves for tomorrows climbs and packed our gear for the mountain.
We left the trailhead at 2 am and began making our way up the trail, but before we ever hit the ledges, we were off track. We bushwhacked and hiked our way up the hillside until we finally met up with the actual trail again. Taking few breaks, we made it to the base of the east buttress around 8 am. With a full day of climbing ahead of us, we headed up, and with great rock and easy route finding, the climb went smooth. We submitted just before 2 pm, chatted with some people on the summit and then decided that we would tag on one more 14er since it was right there. Leaving our packs, we ran for Mt. Muir and did a quick rock scramble to the summit. Muir is just a mile away from Whitney, so an hour and a half was all we needed. I signed the summit register on Mt. Whitney and we descended the mountaineers route. Not the best thing to do without snow, and not recommended either. It was very loose and unstable. We made good time and had good conversation with some folks we met from Tahoe, and were back to the car just after dark. About 16 miles and 18 hours car to car.
Exhausted and sore, we decided to get a cheap motel for the night so we headed back into Lone Pine, ate a big pasta dinner and hit the pillows. We were planning on heading to more mountains from here but since my foot was in bad shape, we altered our plans and headed for Yosemite next. Having been there just a few years prior, I knew that I wanted to explore the mountains rather than the valley. We made a plan to go to Tuolumne Meadows and do some camping and climbing in the area before heading to the valley to check out el capitan and half dome. We spent a day seeing the sites of Toulomne and relaxed on the shore of a grand alpine lake. We climbed Cathedral Peak via its standard 5.6 route, saw the Ansel Adams views and felt good about our accomplishment.
Feeling tired and dirty again, we decided a shower would be nice, so we jumped in the Merced river before heading for the valley to check out el capitan and the views of half dome.
Next we drove down to Kings Canyon National Park, camped the night and took a scenic drive. There was a lot of smoke from fires, so we didn’t stay long, only taking the time to hike to a viewpoint for sunset on the second evening. We moved on to Sequoia National Park and spent a few days checking out the trees. If you’ve never been to Sequoia, add it to your short list because it is incredible!
With only 2 days left before we had to drive back to vegas
and fly home. We went to Ventura and walked the beach to see the black tar lava
and some sea lions and spent the night camping on the waters edge. We decided
we would catch a boat and go to Channel Islands National Park. We went to Santa Rosa Island and did some hiking. On the boat ride back in we were fortunate to see something very rare. Dolphins and sea lions were feeding. Not just a few, but 100’s, maybe 500 or more all jumping out of the water, splashing and creating a frenzy. We floated and watched this spectacle for over an hour before finally heading back to land.
We finally headed back to Las Vegas and spent a day with Laura’s sister before heading home from our first real trip together.
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