Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board The cooks story time .......

So lets talk it over .You are with Worth and he/she gets tired, lets just leave them and go on to the summit. I will meet the rest of the party around the Trailhead or maybe the car for sure Less will be somewhere and I can get a ride into the Motel or maybe just head home.

The old boy walks up the other night and says we have a problem. I thought things were doing "well" just putting the 18 bags of trash in the truck and heading for the dump. What was the problem? My wife is not at Trail Camp !She left a note and said she would wait at OutPost camp My wife is not around Outpost So I came down .

Next night my wife is missing I left her on the mountain ,where is she? Try Crabtree ranger station for a side trip and a long slow walk out the next day.

Last night a nice lady says my husband is missing he was so slow I knew I would never make it to the summit if we stayed together???? so I left him on the trail. Where could he be? Crabtree Oh no why would he go there?

Doug Jr is writing the how to get your food faster manual now , seems like sticking your head in the window and asking several times isn't working, but please just tell the cook that you will gladly take some other person order since you may be of a different social class, status or party we all studied in Soc. 101.

The main season has started and we are seeing the same problems daily. The lack of a plan for the trip , making assumptions about the weather based on reports of what may or may not happen and not a process for turning back based on the real conditions, Not understanding about distances to a safer area and on out if needed. We will have snow by the third week of August and hail/sleet any day ( two days this week on the westside)


Now this all may sound silly but the hard fact is we will see several events that can not be taken lightly. Please have a plan, stay together and help each other make the trip a positive experience.And like Doug Jr always ask what do you think they talk about at the Christmas dinner?

A young lady just headed back to Crabtree this AM to meet her boyfriend that walked over yesterday to meet her as planned It will workout. He took two days of food, maybe a jacket and sleeping gear . As Planned .

The other young lady waited three dayas for her climbing buddies to come back down, (they thought she would slow the trip down with her foot injury?) they got here this AM . I had some sage advice on this relationship but then you know that love thing always blocks logic ask Earlene.

Well just a few general comments no pictures . Richard is heading to the Valley on the JMT Thanks Doug Please be safe!!!!

EPIC FAIL.

I think that's one that Rick Kent came up with a few years ago... Applies a lot more to a LOT of these things you talk about, rather than him missing that 20th peak.

So here's my list:
(BTW I'm sitting in McDs in Mammoth...)
1. Look at the map if you are heading into unknown terrain. I put it off and put it off and then didn't even bother to read the signs... Minaret Lake is beautiful, but its not on the way to Yosemite... Or maybe it is.
2. I don't get to see Rosie and family. Super bummed about that.
3. I'm going to have to finish off the JMT out of sequence because I've got 2 vehicles for shuttles up in Yosemite. I need to get to the Valley Floor tomorrow Bummed about that.
4. If you see a trail blocked off, don't jump the barriers. Thought I'd use the cut-off from Devils Postpole back to Reds. Found out how bad the down trees are!

What's relevant to this post - I stuck my head in the window yesterday morning and asked JR. where my breakfast is.

JR. TOLD me to make sure and look at the map

Do you need a ride from Mammoth to the Valley?

I hope this is not a bad sign that we are getting a cooks letter in July already!!

If you want a diversion I have a 30 square job to re-sheet starting on Mon. Tell Doug Jr. I could use some help.

Looking forward to hanging around the store in a couple of weeks. I'm going looking for the road on the back side with the 48 Merc. on it.

Bets leaves for Kilimanjaro in 1 week, then its tv dinner time for me. She is also going to try the East Face again with Kurt over Labor Day weekend. Maybe the old weather will cooperate this time.

Please tell Davey NO RUNNING ON THE TRAIL. Good Job on walking fast!!!

Remember to duck when the fries come flying out the window.

Hi to the Portal crew and see you in 2 weeks.

Crazy Jack

Doug,
And I enjoyed coming back down from the top, on the 20th
with my wife, at a snails pace mind you (downhill ), carrying both
her pack and mine from Outpost, (mule looping I call it) close to 50lbs because her inside where hurting. SHE JUST HAD A HYSTERECTOMY 4 months ago
and made it all the way to Trail Camp. After a cold/windy sleepless night
Trail Camp a summit attempt on her part was impossible. We talked it out,
made a plan and I made it and returned to camp by 10:00am to her sweet kisses and hugs! Key point, we had
a PLAN, we talked it out and are a TEAM!!! The "me-me-me" generation, my
personal success, the hell to you and yours should never avail itself where
mother nature and the good man above control all. Selfish, selfish, selfish!
Enough ranting, people will learn or, buy another t-shirt, take another picture
and leave another wag bag behind as they head on out and a new group rolls on in.
See ya at the top!
Be Prepared!!
Felipe de España

P.S.- Told the crew members working on the 99 switchbacks what a great job they were doing and one member said, "Sheeeit, no ones even said much more than Hello in the last two days!" Yet another example right Doug!!

Hey, I worked on that trail 1-1/2 months ago. I told the FS they should just close it and build another. I'm sure that what you saw was much better than what I saw.

No, Richard. You made a longer but better route. Did you keep going from Minaret Lake to Cecile, then down to Iceberg ,Ediza, and Shadow - the "Shadow of the Minarets Route"? One time through there I did it that way instead of the shorter but less interesting PCT or JMT options from Reds to Shadow.

I'm ony way to Redd.
If someone knows Rosie's nber can you let her know I'll be at the cafe shortly

Doc, my map pages didn't show that area, so I just doubled back to Red's when I saw how much extra time and distance I had "wasted." I'm definitely going back for some x-c exploration. This is about the JMT right now...