... the Kern. Unless they were planning on paddling around Guitar lake for awhile then hauling them back over the crest.

Yeah, amazing what your body tries to tell you when the oxygen load drops to less than 2/3rds what it is used to. Also can't get the morning coffee hot enough. Science says about a 190 degree boiling point at Trail Camp.

Here's a shot taken from almost the same spot but a wider view, you can see the south side of Whitney and how the west face isn't all that steep... trail continues around the base of the summit through a small snow field (this is early July) before it makes a right turn and does the final uphill. Summit is a little past the highest point in this photo.


Final bit of Whitney Trail: Don Casey

Lastly, here's the Sierra crest at dawn from Trail Camp. The trail is on the far side of the sawtooth ridge (you ascend the infamous "97 switchbacks" to the left of this photo, cross over the crest, and traverse the far side (prior pictures). Whitney itself is just out of this photo, to the extreme right.


Sunrise on the Sierra crest from Trail Camp, Mount Whitney Trail: Don Casey