Mt. Whitney Trip --2nd day in the mountain--

To The Summit (Mt. Whitney Trip)

□■□■　Mt. Whitney ■□ August　17th,　The second day in the mountain
Trail Camp - The summit (Round Trip)

　I woke up in the midnight with a strong headache. I went down with water and some food because I could not bear with the headache. The pain got better as I lost elevation. Then I walked back slowly upward to the camping site.

　The sun began to rise and mountains became red when I came back to the Trail Camp. The headache became a bit better than before.

　I ate breakfast and had a nap for about an hour. Then I started hiking up to the summit.

　A steep switchback slope goes on above the Trail Camp. A main ridge line that I was heading was like a big wall seen from the bottom. My steps got slow as oxygen concentration diluted with gaining height. And I tried to diminish my pain by having a aspirin.

　"The switchback" was described on the T-shirt which I bought after finishing the camping trip.

　Finally I reached 4000m for the first time in my life!
(Japanese highest mountain is 3776m.)
Headache was getting worse...

　And I got to the ridge line, Trail Crest. The other side is steeper but it also has a trail to the bottom. A bunch of young hikers looking students were walking up with their big backpacks from the other side.

　The left picture is a view of the west side (opposite side of Trail Camp) of the ridge line. The vast landscape looks like a representative of big America.

　I was suffering from bad headache and was passed by other hikes one and the after. Later I saw hikers coming back from the summit because I departed the camp late. After all, I knew I might be an aftermost hiker.

There is a stone hut on the top. Just a bit more to the summit!

　I made it! It took quite long...

There was a sign on a stone there.

14496 feet = 4418m

　I was taken a photo with Joe, who is a system engineer from Silicone Valley. I met him there. He stayed in the stone hut at the night. He said he hiked up from the other side of Trail Camp taking many days.

　Then I met a couple looking Asian coming up to the top after me. He said that parents of the man are Japanese. But he has never been to Japan and didn't speak Japanese. The couple left Whitney Portal at midnight and hiked up overnight to make one day round trip. They gave me some of their Ibuprofen tablets when I talked about my headache. He said Ibuprofen seemed more effective than Aspirin against high-altitude headache. Both can easily be obtained in a drug store in the U.S. although I can buy them only with a doctor's prescription in Japan.

　I began to hike down as a definate rear end followed by the couple. It was past 4:30pm.

　My steps became quick after passing Trail Crest on the right picture and was getting low.

　It got dark just when I arrived at Trail Camp at 8pm. My headache disappeared completely and I slept profoundly with a great satisfaction.

（Updated；8/18/2024）

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