Our trip is now halfway completed and it has been beautiful, challenging, frightening at times and amazing. The crampons saved us on two of the passes (would have really helped on a third, but we didn't have them until our Onion Valley resupply). Wait until you see the photos. Traversing across steeply sloped snow fields was not our idea of a summer hike.
An early June snow storm left 4 feet of snow on Whitney and the 4 passes around 12,000 feet have all had snow. We realized that the impact of snow was going to result in a delay in reaching our resupply, so we started rationing food and made good use of the extra soybutter we had packed for emergencies. Last night's dinner was amusing to say the least. We made it to resupply and will post more coordinates of our campsites below.
Here are some anecdotes:
Dave has a zero degree sleeping bag and a thick Thermarest. I have a 15 degree bag and a thinner Thermarest that leaks (saving me a total of 1 pound in weight to carry). I shiver at night. Dave doesn't even have to zip his sleeping bag.
Dave falls in streams
The mosquitoes are often so thick that we inhale them, swallow them and swat them all at the same time
The water coming down the rivers and in the lakes is clear so that you can see spots on the rocks many feet down.
Last night was the first night we set up camp before the sun was setting.
Because of the challenges of the trip so far, we may adjust our plan to stick to the main trail instead of taking the high route.
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