Crabtree Meadow

June 9th, 2012
Day 70
Today's Miles: 5.8 (+1 Mile Extra Credit)

After a great day yesterday, we were geared up to do another short day to set up our Mt. Whitney trip. We had a short but steep climb to start the day and took a brief break creekside halfway up.




Once up though, we had a great view over the area we camped the night before.









Mt. Guyot from Guyot Flat.

After just a few miles we reached the entrance to lower Crabtree Meadow and got our first views of where we would be headed in the morning to summit Mt. Whitney.




Once in the meadow we had to stop to take in how beautiful it all was. Streams flowing and deer grazing; all in the shadow of Mt. Whitney.







Naturally, with such a nice backdrop and plenty of Golden Trout in the creeks, Tailgate and Camshaft stopped to fish before doing the last mile of the day.
















After a couple fish each (which were all thrown back) Tailgate, Camshaft, Maple (who had joined us during the fishing) and myself moved on to set up camp. We've decided to set up camp and leave most of our gear in Crabtree Meadow in order to summit Whitney with slightly lighter packs. Here's hoping the Marmots don't get too interested in our tent while we're gone.




-Twist

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A Great Day Back

June 8th, 2012
Day 69
Today's Miles: 10.3 (+3.8 Miles Extra Credit)

We jumped out of bed after a late night and went over to the hostel where Lifeboat's mom was awesome enough to throw us stinky hikers in her car and drive us up to Horseshoe Meadow to get back on the trail.




After the ride back to the trail we were off and up Cottonwood Pass. The climb up wasn't as bad as it looked, and we were up and back to the trail in about an hour and fifteen minutes. The climb gave way to some great scenery though.



The approach to the climb was long so it made that last push to the top easier.






Looking back over Horseshoe Meadow.






(Again) Looking back over the meadow, this time from Cottonwood Pass.

Just a short distance after we reached the PCT, we hit an outlet of Chicken Spring Lake. The outlet had water, but we went up to the lake to check it out anyways.






Twist in front of the lake.

After crossing the outlet, we climbed up above the lake and got more amazing views.


































The short day's hike was pretty uneventful but it seemed like we were stopping every 15 minutes to just stare at the amazing scenery.







Once we reached our campsite for the night I immediately grabbed my fly rod for a little fishing. With a beautiful backdrop I was able to snag two small Golden Trout that I threw back. It was just relaxing to get to do some fishing.




As Twist, Camshaft and I were sitting around the campfire, we were suddenly given a close up view of some deer grazing in the meadow. Naturally, Twist jumped up with excitement and proceeded to take about 50 pictures...here is one of them.




After yet another great day, we are camped in yet another great spot in the trees between a meadow and a creek. Camshaft's tent is right behind a tree with claw marks up to 6ft high...but he'll be fine.

-Tailgate

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Lone Pine

June 7th, 2012
Day 68
Today's Miles: 0

This morning we woke up with good intentions of getting all of our chores done and hitting the trail today. We quickly realized we had too many chores to get done and decided to stay another night.

Last night we stayed at the portal motel. We were very disappointed when they kicked us out at 10:30 this morning for check out, even after we asked for a late check out.




I would not recommend staying at the portal motel. They were one of the priciest in town and had a really early check out.

While we were doing our chores today around town we had an awesome view of Mt. Whitney.







Luckily a vacancy opened up at the Dow Villa Hotel. It was a really nice hotel with a great history.






This was a nice message in our room at the Dow Villa.



Down town Lone Pone was very cute.



Above you can see me sorting out food for the next stretch.



Tailgate washed out a few pair of socks in the tub.

We had a great time wandering around town. Our favorite spot was Elevation the outfitters.






The owner John was super helpful and let us hang out in the shop all day and play with gear.



Buster showed up at Elevation excited about his treats.

Later that night Lifeboat's mom arrived in Lone Pine. We all decided to go out to dinner at the Merry-go-Round (Lifeboat, Lifeboat's mom, Cam Shaft, Buster, Tailgate and I)






We all had some amazing Chinese food and enjoyed a relaxing dinner.






Later that night we all soaked in the spa at the Dow Villa.

Tomorrow morning Carl's mom is going to drive us all back up to Horseshoe meadow. We are getting to bed kind of late but we got all our chores done and had a great time around town today.

-Twist

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