From JMT mile 205.8+ to 205.8+ Total: 3.8 miles hiked 8/21
The twenty third day of my John Muir Trail trek was the final day of hiking, when I headed down to Whitney Portal from Outpost Camp, and drove down to rediscover Civilization in the town of Lone Pine, by eating proper food and taking a shower in a motel.
Keith and I woke up early, but didn’t even bother cooking breakfast this time. I ate my lunchtime Pop-Tart instead. This caused us to start hiking earlier than ever, at 5:15am! Calling it “First Light” was being generous, although it was possible to see a tiny bit of color in the east above the Inyo Mountains. We only had four miles to hike, and we wanted to get moving, so we headed out with our headlamps on.
Since this was the Mount Whitney Trail, there were already plenty of dayhikers on their way up to the summit. They often leave the portal just after midnight, hiking with headlamps just like we were. It was fun to watch them on the switchbacks down below us as we hiked along. They had the uphill direction, and were struggling with acclimation issues, whereas we were blasting down the trail without a care in the world.
We arrived at the official Whitney Zone sign a half hour later. It wasn’t even 6am! This was where the short side trail to Lone Pine Lake began. We hiked down into the bowl to the lake. We still had our headlamps on when we arrived, but we didn’t need them after that.
The sky was getting positively bright in the east. There were a few ruffles on the surface due to a dawn breeze. We set down our backpacks and I handed Keith my Tenkara rod, since his got broken two days ago in Crabtree Meadow. I sat down and watched him fish. There were a few rings showing where the trout were rising. There were also two bats still out hunting bugs above the lake. I guess it was still dark enough for them. They darted all over, in that crazy way they have of flying. The bugs didn’t stand a chance.
Keith tried and tried, but he only got one decent strike, and the trout fell off just before he could land it. That’s fishing, I guess. But it didn’t matter. It was a beautiful morning and we sat there watching the sky get bright for quite some time. We spent close to an hour at the lake. There was no point in hurrying, as the Portal Store wouldn’t be open when we got down there, and we’d still have to wait. Why not wait right here?
Eventually we donned our packs and hiked onward. The trail finally got smooth and cruisey after this point. No more horrible giant “Bob-Steps” (as we called them, in memory of Bob’s sworn hatred of them). We blasted right along. We crossed the log bridges over Lone Pine Creek, and found a spot where we got a bit of cell phone signal. I called Vicki and Keith called his wife. But the signal wasn’t that great, so we told them that we’d call them later, from town.
We left the John Muir Wilderness as we neared the cars parked at the portal. We also passed the junction with the Mountaineers Route trail. I’d like to hike up that trail someday, but only to see some of the high lakes. I’m too old to use crampons and an ice axe, and ascend to the summit via that route.
And a short time later we arrived at the portal itself.
Our hike was over! We walked through the wooden trailhead structure, and I posed next to the Mount Whitney Trail sign by the road. We were finished! When I totaled up all the mileage we hiked, including side trails, it came out to over 250 miles! Not bad for 23 days of hiking.
We headed directly for my car, which was parked about as close to the portal store as you could get. I set down my pack, and then I heard someone call out “Hey!” It turned out to be Chris, the guy I met the very first day on the trail, and many times since. This was the tenth and truly final time. He spent the night down here in the backpacker’s campground. His mom was with him. She drove up here to pick him up. Nice mom! We shook hands one final time, and then they headed off, back home, wherever that was. I wished him well, and hoped that the hike reset his life and got him back on track. We hiked together for a while on my second day, after climbing Half Dome, and it sounded like his life just went through some big changes.
When we walked over to the Whitney Portal Store, we discovered that it hadn’t opened yet. We arrived at 8:15 and had to wait until 9am. The owner (Doug) was his usual awesome self and let us in a few minutes early. We bought some souvenirs, put in our orders for breakfast, then headed back outside to wait. It didn’t take long, and the portions were large. Keith got one of their pancakes, which was insanely large and thick. Only a starving person could wolf that thing down. But he tried, as manfully as he could.
Afterward, the little pond was nearby, and I told Keith that it was stocked with fish, but since so many people tried to catch them every day, the ones that survived were very wary. He got shut out. Or maybe he gave up because we had chores in town still to do. Then we headed back to the car and began the long descent into Lone Pine on Whitney Portal Road.
It was a Thursday morning, and the post office was open. Keith had shipped an “Exit Box” there, which had a duffel bag for his backpack and some town clothes inside. He also shipped Bob back his 20 degree down bag which he lent Keith back at VVR when he left the trail. Keith brought too warm a bag, not realizing just how cold it got in the High Sierra at night. Thanks, Bob! You are truly a gentleman and a scholar. Bob also gave me his “Wag Bag” when he left, so that I could carry out my poo while climbing Mount Whitney. I never needed it, and I ended up shipping it back to him later on, after I got home, so that he’s certain to have one next Summer. I grabbed an extra one at the portal structure earlier that morning, so I was ready for next year, too.
Our original plan was that Keith and I were going to hike back into the Cottonwood Lakes basin, since Keith’s flight home didn’t leave until next week. I had a doctor’s appointment before that, so he would have to hitchhike back to town and take a bus to Reno to catch his flight. The timing wasn’t great, and it was expensive to stay in town. It turned out to be only marginally cheaper to pay the fee to change his flight to tomorrow night. But at least he’d be home with his wife. Tomorrow. As would I.
Once that was done, we headed to the fly shop on the main street of Lone Pine. The owner was there, and he told us stories about the good old days, when the fish were bigger, and the girls were prettier, and every man was an expert fly fisherman. All true! Or as true as any fishing story you might hear.
Armed with a few new flies, we decided to head up the hill toward Horseshoe Meadows. Our motel room wasn’t ready yet, and it was seriously hot down here in town. Being back up at 10000 feet was required, as was some fishing. Cottonwood Creek was the home of the purest Goldens available, so we parked along the road and headed up and down the creek. The fishing was “technical,” as the creek was very small, and the willows rather thick, such that casting and fly placement was difficult. But that didn’t stop Keith from catching a number of very small Golden Trout. He knew exactly where to find them, and had the skill to get his fly into precisely the right spot.
By the time Keith was satisfied, the motel room was ready. Earlier, we each bought a Subway sandwich in town and ate half for lunch and saved the other half for dinner. The first order of business was taking showers. Keith did his first, because he’d been swimming in lakes the whole trek, whereas I was absolutely filthy. I even got out a razor to shave off the four weeks of beard that I had grown (I started growing it early while dropping off my food resupplies). It took me most of an hour to hack that scraggly thing off my face! But I was happy once it was gone. I knew Vicki would appreciate it too. I put on some clean Town Clothes after that, and Life was Good again. Not that we stayed up very late; we were used to sleeping before sunset!
We continued our tradition, and woke up at 4am in the motel. It didn’t take long to get dressed, pack our bags, and haul them out to the car. We drove down the road to the McDonalds on the south side of town. This is where the Bus Stop is located. They opened the restaurant at 5am, because they knew that the 6am bus to Reno was a sure-fire source of early customers. We went inside and ordered breakfast, then hung out with each other one last time. We yakked about the trip, and about possible plans for next Summer. Keith and I liked hiking with each other, and doing some more of it seemed like a good idea.
As the time of departure neared, Keith and I shook hands. It had been a great trek! He headed over to the bus stop and I went back to my car. It was time to go home.
I left Lone Pine at 6am and arrived home at 11am. Five hours on a Friday with two of them in LA traffic was pretty good time. I heard later on that Keith got home about midnight after his wife picked him up at the airport. I think he had the worse day.
But both of us were happy. Happy to be home and happy to have finished an awesome hike. The John Muir Trail is one of the best long distance hikes anywhere, and the more than 7000 photos and videos I took prove it!
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
<< Back to Day 22 JMT Summary >> 
hikingtales.com 