J & T's Epic John Muir Trail Hike: Tuesday, September 17th, 2013. Crabtree Meadow to Mount Whitney

“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.” --John Muir

Summit Day!! It is finally here...

Crabtree Meadows has a toilet that you have to use. I had left my coffee in the field down by the toilet so I figured since I had to walk down there twice, I might as well take a picture. We rented bear cans from wildideas and today was the first time we noticed the perplexed Bear picture!

It was going to be a short hiking day--only had 7.5 miles to the top of Whitney but we had to stop and get water. We needed water for the hike up, dinner, tea tonight, breakfast, coffee and the hike down. So we were going to be hiking some steep trails with extra heavy packs.

We stopped at the Lake above Guitar Lake for water

Looking back at Guitar Lake...from here you can see where it gets it's name!

A balanced rock.

Views of the trail, a nice campspot and looking back.

What is that sign?? Could it be Trail Junction? I ran ahead to get in the picture!

We made it to trail junction--time for a break and to get the warm clothes on!

1.9 miles to go

Taking a break at Trail Junction

On the way to the top.

The trail did have some dropoffs.

What could that be? Yep, the top! Never so happy to see a tiny building in the distance.

National Park Service, US Department of the Interior

Mount Whitney, Elevation 14,496.811 ft

John Muir Trail - High Sierra Trail

September 5, 1930

This tablet marks the construction of the highest trail in the untied states. Begun in 1928, it was completed in 1930 under the direction of the National Park Service working with the United States Forest Service

Finally done!!

The building on top of Mount Whitney was erected in 1909 by the Smithsonian Institution, Hodgkins Fund. It provides storage for search and rescue and a little room where people can get out of the elements.