2026 Mt. Whitney Hike: Day -1: Prologue

Friends - As alluded to on 21 August 2026, last month I participated in (and completed) an approximately 85 mile/135 km 8 day hike through the Sierra Nevadas and summited Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 states at 14,504 ft/4420 m.  Total elevation gain was 23,000 ft/7,010 m, more or less.

Longer term readers may recall that this hike was something I did four year ago in 2022.  It was a challenging hike then; it was equally (or more) challenging now.  Why, you might ask yourself, would I do such a hike again?

The roots of this find itself in the fellowship with which I hiked.

As you might recall, in 2022 I went with my brother-in-law, The Outdoorsman. These hikes (started in 2021) became an annual sort of "male bonding" activity.  In 2023 in going to Mt. Goddard, we added in The Outdoorsman's son-in-law, The Brit.  This year, in discussions, we added in Nighean Bhan's fiancé, The Fiancé.

Things were planned and we all intended to meet at The Outdoorman's house in Old Home - until a freak accident meant that The Fiancé, who is a small business owner, had to stay behind and cover his business.  This was a great disappointment to all of us; we are hopeful that we will do another hike together next year.

And so the three of us assembled and took the 3 hour drive down to the meeting point.

At our meeting point, we linked up with our guides:  Rainbow Bright, our guide from last year's trip to Thunder River, and a new-to-us guide, Garbage Woman (It is not as you think:  for a major hike, she received a sponsorship to pick up garbage along the trail and the name stuck).  Our companions for the next 8 days emerged from their cars as well.  It was a mixed group as is usually the case on these hikes:  men and women, old and young, retired and employed, all ready to test themselves against a challenging hike.

Of note, of these hikers only The Outdoorsman and myself had made the trek before.

After procuring dinner (sandwich and chips) we headed for the trailhead.

Our starting point, about 1.5 hours away from the meet up point, was in King's Canyon at a campsite known as Horse Corral.  There, we did our pack check (what goes, what stays - I always have to advocate for my book and my journal), got our equipment as needed (for me, all the things:  backpack, tent, sleeping bag, pad), set up for the night, and then gathered together for a short meet and greet and a discussion of what lie ahead.  There were six other hikers plus our team of three and our guides (2), making for a team of 11.  With an admonition that tomorrow was going to come early (rising time 0500), we turned in for the night.

A comment on what to expect for this series:  One of the admonitions from Rainbow Bright was to "Be Present" for this hike.  I did my best to honour this request:  I took about half the pictures I did on my previous hike (to be fair, not much changed in four years).  More importantly, every day of the hike I chose a particular thought or theme to consider during the day.  As a result, the writings on this trip will be less about the conditions and views of the hike (they will be there of course) and just as much about the Thought Of The Day - in all cases, having that thought to come back to resulted in some very interesting ruminations.

A second comment is that I will break a bit with my general format in terms of subjects.  Rather than spread this out, we will continue on the journey as if it were a through hike every day, breaking only for 11 September and Sundays (A Year Of Kindness).  

Thanks for coming along.  We are going to have an excellent trip.

(Post Script:  I would be remiss if I did not mention that the organization I go through is TSX Challenge.  They are a first rate hiking group and have saved my life (literally) at least twice.  I cannot recommend them highly enough [and, they do all the cooking!].  For those that are curious, an itinerary of the hike is here.)