Day 29

Tyndall Creek campsite to Guitar Lake

I woke up and felt numb a bit to the experience. It was ending soon.

I laid on the sleeping pad and hid under the sleeping bag. The sun was coming up and I hid from it rather than greeting it like I have been for most of the trip.

The ambivalence was likely from missing home to realizing real life was setting in.

I have been told that how we handle endings is a good clue on how to we are raised. For me, endings are painful so it’s best to deal with them quickly and without a lot of fuss.

Except there is a lot of fuss.

In two days, my journey will be over and I’m back to my default world.

My task for this next 48 hours is to try to remain present.

“Can any of you add one moment to your life span by worrying?” Luke 12:25

Today I need to ponder the birds, the flowers and the God that created and gave them to us because of how generous He is. I am here. I want to be present and I want to enjoy what time I have left in these spaces.

The first order of the day was the Tyndall Creek crossing. Since I switched over to my keen boots, I was less able to just plow my way through the water crossings and let the boots dry later in the day. These boots were water proof, but that meant if they got wetted out they would hold the moisture inside longer.

I saw the father-son combo I noticed at the top of Forrester yesterday. On this trip I’ve seen two Father-daughter combos and three Father-son combos. What I notice is that each of the dads is genuinely excited to be on the trail with their child. It was something I wanted to imagine for myself. To go on a grand adventure with your parent and for them to actually be excited that you are doing it together. There is something beautiful about that. It makes me tear up imagining the type of care and access in a relationship like that.

I like to imagine that what makes going out in the wilderness so good for these pairs is they get to watch one another grow through discomfort. Children get to watch their parents be human and navigate challenges. Parents get to watch their children be strong and solve problems. Together they get to be curious about one another without trying to show off (because there isn’t anyone there to show off to). It’s vulnerable to face the wilderness. The parent can’t control all of the factors and may slip, mess up or be embarrassed. Every day is a new day. Every obstacle is something new to face together and the only way it would work on a hike this hard, is if the parent trusted the child to pull his/her weight.

I got to Tyndall creek and walked up and down looking for a place to cross that wouldn’t require me to get my boots wet. Gingerly, I picked myself across rocks and managed to make it to the other side.

I looked back and saw the father son combo behind me. The son decided to wear his water shoes and hopped across the rocks no issue. The dad decided to take the same route as I did, and made it across rock hopping. They both were tall and had huge strides and quickly passed me by.

I smiled. I enjoy seeing similarities between family members. My friend Katie and her sister Suzanne have a similar way of talking. My friend Liz and her sister’s all laugh in similar ways. Me and my mom have the same stance when we are waiting for something (hands on hips). This father and son both walked similarly.

I came up over a crest and started to see my first views of Mt. Whitney.

Wow. The trip really is coming to an end. Once I make it to the top of Mt. Whitney, the official JMT is over. Granted I’ll have 9 miles to get back down and off of the trail, plus I have to get home… but the magnitude that my goal will be complete once I summit that large mountain was settling in.

I immediately sat down in the Meadow I was in and took a breath.

The trip would end and I would return to life. There would be a lot to think about and grieve when that happened. I pulled out a snack bar and took my time eating it.

I pulled out my phone and mused over the miles in would do. There was 6 more miles to Guitar Lake. I was a day ahead. I could either comfortably stop and camp and wait a day, or I could push to do a 12.5 mile day.

Pros of doing the 12.5 miles is that I would be sleeping at 10,000 feet and that would help with my climb of Mt. Whitney which was at 14,505.

Cons, my trip would end a day earlier.

In the end I decided to push. It would give me margin and options to choose. I could camp at Guitar for two nights, or if weather was questionable I could summit the following day. I liked having margin.

I took plenty of breaks, stopped to soak up time in the trees. Chatted with PCT hikers that turned off to Crabtree Meadows (their permit didn’t allow them to camp at Guitar Lake). Spent time listening to some worship music and ate a few snacks. By the time I made it to Guitar lake I was tired but in good spirits.

I found a camp site, soaked my feet in the lake and debated what kind of summit I wanted to do.

I heard a lot of people recommend waking up at 4:00 AM to be on the top of Whitney before the sunrise happened. That was definitely a possibility but I wasn’t sure I wanted to hike a hike that difficult in the dark.

Alternatively I could leave at 6:30 and do a regular summit.

I meditated on this while I heated my water and prepared my dinner. I wasn’t sure which I wanted to do.

My body was a little sore and I didn’t want to push too hard but, I felt I’d be up for it if I wanted to.

I decided that my indecision would be put to rest by action. I packed my pack as if I was going to leave at 4AM. I set my alarm for 3:15 AM. If I woke up and tore down the tent, then I would have a summit sunrise. If I didn’t then it would be a normal one.

When my food was ready, I grabbed it and decided to walk around guitar lake and eat it. While I was doing that a beautiful sunset made the lake look like molten gold. I stayed watching the sun disappear before I went to my tent, stored my bear can and went to bed.

To summit Whitney tomorrow!