DAY 55: GUITAR LAKE

Guitar Lake

miles: 10

Rock Creek was a serene place to sleep and we SLEPT IN until 8:00am! I CAN'T EXPLAIN HOW NICE THAT WAS. I'm not sure we've ever slept in that much on the trail! I barely sleep in on days off these days...

Leisurely, we packed our things, made coffee, chatted and had another (morning) campfire! Hoop Dreams was going to skip Mt. Whitney because she had already done it twice, so we left her there at camp and meandered onward. The excitement! In a few hours we would begin our night hike up Mt. Whitney.

The meadows near Rock Creek. 

Morning 2nd breakfast/stretch break.

Ben.

Panorama of the area today leading up to Crabtree Meadows.

Gate leading into Crabtree Meadows, very cool.

Made it to Crabtree Meadows by 1:00pm and made lunch. We were trying to decide whether or not to summit Mt. Whitney from Crabtree (8 miles to the top, then 8 miles back down tomorrow) or hike on to Guitar lake 4 miles away (making the night hike 4 miles long, as opposed to 8... much more appealing).

Crabtree Meadows is typically the "base camp" for PCT thru-hikers and JMT-ers (John Muir Trail hikers) but sometimes motivated hikers will camp up at Guitar Lake (11,500+  feet high) in order to sleep in a little longer before going up... also - it is GORGEOUS at Guitar Lake. We had heard it would be FREEZING up there and that we wouldn't get a wink of sleep so we were planning on sleeping at Crabtree Meadows, but after talking with Lunchbox (who we ran into on his way down) we decided to go up to Guitar Lake. He said it was just as freezing down at Crabtree, and that people hated trekking the 8 miles up at midnight.

Oh, let me explain: the plan is to wake up at midnight, night hike the mountain in the dark, and make it to the summit before sunrise so that we can watch the sunrise from the highest point in the continental United States (obviously Alaska has a higher peak). This sounds insane to me, but everyone does it, so I agree.

I'm nervous.

VErrrrrrrryyyy nervous.

I don't like hiking in the dark much, especially along cliffs and granite ledges that tower 6,000 feet above the ground. We are climbing the highest peak in the U.S.

Tonight.

Crabtree Meadows.

The trail to Guitar Lake.

Bet you can't spot the marmot? 

Saw our first marmot at Crabtree Meadows... then saw about 50 more. Guitar Lake was full of them! Aggressive little creatures! Very cute, but are out to get your food... and your salt. We caught one licking up someones pee puddle. They love salt!

We've even heard that they will steal your shoes (and other sweaty items) in the night.

Caught a marmot eating/licking Sour Creams hat. They are incredibly hard to scare off! They are like little stuffed animals - not graceful at all (unlike the squirrel and chipmunks that move very fast and efficiently), they gallump around slowly and seem to be mildly clumsy, even.

Ben taking in the lake.

Guitar Lake, our sleeping arena for the night. 

We arrived at guitar lake and jaws dropped. Absolutely mind blowingly beautiful. It was a granite arena! We ate some early supper at 5:00pm and started snuggling in our sleeping bags. Alarms set for midnight, we would hike on, in a headlamp line, upward into the night. 

Butterflies in my stomach kept me up pretty late - why am I so nervous? This is an opportunity one cannot pass up, seeing as we are so close to the top of the countries highest point, yet I felt as though I wanted to skip it! I feared the elevation, the freezing temperatures, the rocky night ankle rolling possibilities.... 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!