Fifty Miler Memories, Part 1, Mount Langley & Mount Whitney
In about 1993, when I was about 12 years old, I went on my first of two fifty milers. These were the highlights of my failed Boy Scouts career. This trip was to the highest places in the continental United States, in central California.
Being an idiot little 12 year old, I didn't appreciate the scenery half so much as I bitched about the hike. We hiked for 7 days straight, for the full day, carrying our heavy backpacks, and camped at night. We took New Army Pass on the worst day of those hikes, ascending up to over 13,000 feet in elevation. The trail is 13 miles long and rises 6100 feet in elevation, apparently, so it wasn't easy. 
I have some old printed photos somewhere from that trip, but thanks to the wonders of the internet, I can get better quality and better shots to help tell the story.
I got lost overnight along with Greg Schindler (who later was an All-Pac-10 Offensive Lineman at Stanford and played for the 49ers, but bawled like a baby that night) and Doug Dickey (who did not cry) on one of those nights. They sent a helicopter for us the next morning. My parents are probably glad that happened in the days before cell phones.
Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet, is the highest point in the continental US. Interestingly, it is only 76 miles away from the lowest point in the United States, which is 282 feet below sea level, in Death Valley. In his book 'Age of Gold' about the California Gold Rush, Texas History professor HW Brands described the geological cause of such crumpling of that part of the Earth, like 2 pieces of paper hitting each other. Brands also tells of the people who tried to go to California this way instead of over Donner Pass to reach the gold fields in 1849. They didn't fare any better than the Donner Party- as you could imagine, if you had to go up and down such dramatic distances repeatedly in the 19th Century.
We went to Mount Langley, which, as you can see here, is on the same big formation with Mount Whitney and Mount Muir.
In about 1993, when I was about 12 years old, I went on my first of two fifty milers. These were the highlights of my failed Boy Scouts career. This trip was to the highest places in the continental United States, in central California.
Being an idiot little 12 year old, I didn't appreciate the scenery half so much as I bitched about the hike. We hiked for 7 days straight, for the full day, carrying our heavy backpacks, and camped at night. We took New Army Pass on the worst day of those hikes, ascending up to over 13,000 feet in elevation. The trail is 13 miles long and rises 6100 feet in elevation, apparently, so it wasn't easy. 
I have some old printed photos somewhere from that trip, but thanks to the wonders of the internet, I can get better quality and better shots to help tell the story.
I got lost overnight along with Greg Schindler (who later was an All-Pac-10 Offensive Lineman at Stanford and played for the 49ers, but bawled like a baby that night) and Doug Dickey (who did not cry) on one of those nights. They sent a helicopter for us the next morning. My parents are probably glad that happened in the days before cell phones.
Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet, is the highest point in the continental US. Interestingly, it is only 76 miles away from the lowest point in the United States, which is 282 feet below sea level, in Death Valley. In his book 'Age of Gold' about the California Gold Rush, Texas History professor HW Brands described the geological cause of such crumpling of that part of the Earth, like 2 pieces of paper hitting each other. Brands also tells of the people who tried to go to California this way instead of over Donner Pass to reach the gold fields in 1849. They didn't fare any better than the Donner Party- as you could imagine, if you had to go up and down such dramatic distances repeatedly in the 19th Century.
We went to Mount Langley, which, as you can see here, is on the same big formation with Mount Whitney and Mount Muir.
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