My First Fourteener: White Mountain Trip
//Interpretive drawing of my trip by Nick VB//
Finally had a weekend off to do some traveling. We decided to head to the Eastern Sierras to do some exploring. Originally, we were going to hike Mount Langley as well. Due to some health issues, I was only able to go to White Mountain.
Pros: "Easiest" fourteener to climb. No technical gear or technical knowledge is required during the summer. It is an hour and 1/2 drive from Big Pine to the trail head. Then, it is a 7 mile hike to the top. It took us around 7 hours total (2 miles per hour).
Cons: Altitude. Left Monterey at 6 PM Friday and didn't get in to Big Pine (4000 ft) until 1 am. On Saturday morning we headed straight up to 11,000 and hiked up to 14,000. Going from sea level to 14,000 ft in less than 24 hours was a bad choice. I made it to 14,000 ft (maybe 13,900) before having to descend due the onset of altitude sickness. My head has never hurt so bad before, I started slurring my words, and was very disoriented at one point.
Lessons Learned: Preparation and nutrition when hiking at 14,000 ft is important even if it isn't a technical climb. Give yourself time to acclimate.
Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of pictures since I was struggling just to walk. Here are the few I took
//White Mountain in the distance//
//After I descended down a little. I still was pretty loopy though and tried setting the timer on my camera to take pictures as I was waiting for the rest of my group to catch up with me//
//<3 this note. From the historic Dow Hotel where we stayed afterwards//
//Stopped at Devil's Postpile in Mammoth on our way back//
//Campsite over Mono Lake before heading back home//
//Our way back through Tioga Pass. Had to wake up at 5 am to make it back to work, but got to see the sun rise through Yosemite Valley//