Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board First time overnight hike lesson

To keep it short: Viewing the stars and ramparts lighted by the quartering moon as I fell asleep in Trail Camp were fantastic. This is the only reason for taking more than a day to do it for me. I think starting a few hours earlier, carrying less weight and summiting in one day is easier.

My five companions for this hike had packs that weighed 40 - 45lbs. Three of these companions were too sick to summit the following day. I am convinced it was due as much to the weight of the packs as the altitude. They just packed up and went back to the portal. The rest of us set a nice slow pace for the summit and had an enjoyable experience. My advice to others is if you are going to do it overnight read a book about packing light.

I agree about the pack weight. Our first one day Whitney hike in 2007 I carried 25 pounds, while my husband carried 27 pounds. TOO much weight which we are convinced added to our slow hiking pace (22 hours). The next year I pulled my weight down to 17 pounds, while my husband carried 20 pounds. Much better hiking time (17 hours). This year I'm hoping to shave off a couple more pounds with a lighter pack and carry 15 pounds, same for my husband.

However, the majority of our weight is WATER - we don't pump, although we have been chided for the lack of this hiking activity. We would just rather carry it and not try to learn a new skill and risk equipment malfunction. I've heard and read horror stories of thwarted hikes because of the lack of water related to a malfunctioning pump.

take iodine tablets instead of a pump

I bought a pump in 1996 for a trip to New Mexico. I never used it in 110 miles. It is still in my attic, if you want it.

I love iodine. I don't use the second pill to remove the bad taste, that way I know I haven't forgotten to use it!

I've spent the night on top 4 times, and the pack weight from Trail Camp has been 33 to 35 pounds each time. That includes 8 pounds of water sleeping bag and envelope, pad and fleece clothing. No tent.

Even in summer it's gotten down to 20F at night, I couldn't figure out how to get it down any farther.

its like tent camping anywhere on the planet

if you go for a week or a overnight certain items must be brought

I like a tent at trail camp, it gets windy sometimes and when the sun id bearing down on you its nice place to have refuhe

carry what ever is comfy

Try the back packing light web site where they have all kinds of light weight gear, and nice articles on reducing pack weight. The link is:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/index.html

Try the Sawyer gravity fed filter system. We used it on our trip last Saturday and they work well. The weight of the bag and filter is negligible. I carried a 100 oz. bladder and two 1 qt. Nalgene bottles filled with electrolyte fluids, and I was out of water before we got out of the switchbacks coming down. Good thing we had the filters or I would have been hurting. Filtered the runoff in the middle of the switchbacks and it saved me. Plus I don't think it's a good thing to hike that high without hydrating a heck of a lot more than you normally would.

Cecelia, you could probably increase your fun if you used a pump or tablets. Water is about the heaviest item in a hikers pack so the less you have to carry the better. On a trail like Whitney there are plenty of water sources.

Honestly, using a pump isn't that difficult and if the pump does fail you can always fall back on tablets.

-Rudy

My last trip to Russell in early August was a test to see how light I could go...sorry, I got to busy to post a TR... but the short version of it was: 23 lbs, not including water, no tent.

I also would reduce the water weight. I carried less water than I intended in early August and used a pump on the switchbacks on the way up and way down. We had tablets as a back up. Water at 8.34 pounds per gallon adds a lot of weight.