Day 20

July 22, 2012 Too much dinner last night! I had acid indigestion all night! Surprisingly, it was not super cold this morning either. We were awoken around 5 am by the tons of people preparing to summit Whitney. Apparently this is big deal. We started our ascent around 8 am and met up with Marc who we have seen every day in the morning’s hike. We slowly made our way up 3,000 feet! We reached the junction for the summit and JMT and we dropped our pack & luckily put our pack covers on. Without our packs on, we easily finished the 2 mi climb to the summit (another 1,000 ft) the trail was very narrow and dangerous & not the safest thing – Darrell would not approve. On our way up we came across Belguim! We hadn’t seen him in a week! We were so excited to see each other @ the summit. We had started & ended on the same day! At the summit there is a little room hut and amazing views. I got emotional thinking of all the passes we had made – all training for this moment. Storm clouds started to build in the distance & we knew from 3 weeks out there, in these mtns to get down because storms were building. We tried to call home but reception was spotty. Then came the hail and thunder, even lightening and we quickened our descent. By the time we got back to our packs, the sun was out again, but we knew better. We moved quickly to the pass (which was unfun with our packs back on). By the time we made the pass, a horrible storm was headed our way – we were basically running down the switchbacks. The day hikers thought we were crazy mountain people. Then came the thunder, rain, and so much hail. It was like a whiteout – everything was covered or being pelted with hail. Then everyone panicked, trying to run for cover – slipping - all at 12,000 feet. We had our rain gear on but the hail was painful. We descended 6,000 feet today. Horrible! It was slippery and took forever! We met lots of people who were lost, couldn’t find the trail, etc. We didn’t stop for lunch or water – more storms kept coming. FINALLY we made it to Whitney portal & hitched a ride with some older men who we helped find the trail in the white out. There was so much rain that it caused mini avalanches on the road – so glad I wasn’t driving. We arrived at Lone Pine Hostel & got rooms in the dorms. We were soaking wet and decided we just were not camping another night! We had pushed ourselves to do two days in one. My roomates in the hostel dorm were crazy ladies. One is on a spiritual retreat and isn’t supposed to talk to anyone, but she won’t shut up when she’s in the room with us. The other is a marathon runner who summited Whitney in one day, and then came back. Jasin and I purchased clean shirts in the gift shop so we would have something to wear, as it was Sunday and the post office wasn’t open yet. We had dinner at the Pizza Factory, and came to realize just how small our stomachs had shrunk as we could barely finish our food. We called everyone to tell them were safe and back in civilization - 3 days early! I took a shower… and then another, and then another. My skin was peeling off and my hair fell out in clumps – but I was in the best shape of my life! Love, Official John Muir Trail Thru – Hiker!