Forester Pass is pretty darn impressive

Looking back from the climb to Bighorn Plateau

The trees just before Bighorn Plateau have to exist at the edge of what is possible for trees - some don't make it

Lone outpost before the plateau

I liked the place so much, we made camp there the next year in 1990. Bighorn Plateau and the barren high country are what sets Sequoia apart from Kings Canyon

I call this guy the "Guardian of Bighorn Plateau" - wonder if this tree still looks like this today, 20 years later

Another one from Bighorn Plateau

The sun disappeared when we were finishing up supper at Crabtree Meadows.

This was the moment we decided that we should just keep going - the full moon came across the Whitney Crest around 10pm. We had rested long enough, the weather was perfectly calm, and our food reserves were pretty low, so what better than reaching the summit at night, and hiking out the next morning? We got to the top at 3am under an extremely bright night sky. Surreal almost - too bad I didn't take any more photos, but we were moving to the summit and had really only that one goal in mind.

Peter, you are forcing me to take an unplanned trip in the area this summer. It has been a while since I was on the JMT, due to the hordes, but I am beginning to realise how much I enjoy it up there, people or no people.

Am currently negotiating with my wife for an extended kitchen pass for the SHR, but negotiations may need an aribitrator. :(

Your pictures are just plain awesome.

These pictures are excellent. I'm definitely doing the JMT next summer(I say that now . . .) Three weeks next summer to do the JMT was part of the negotiating process for me to move to NYC with my gf. It would've been a dealbreaker if she said no.

Every time I get down to the question "where do I want to go and hike next" I keep coming back to the JMT. It's become a second home almost - going back again in two weeks for the double this year. You can't go wrong.

http://didnt.doit.wisc.edu/outdoor/Muir2009/default.html

Crowds? Last July there was hardly anyone up there. On the section over Mather Pass we didn't meet a single person all day, middle of July.

Peter

Time to close the loop - final day, and I hope it is obvious from the photos why I prefer to make Mount Whitney the ultimate goal of the hike, not a first day drag:

Before sunrise, about 5:45am, -8.5 degrees Celsius, no wind, perfect. July 11, 1989. If you were up there, this might be you, because I don't know this person. There were maybe 6 people on the summit that morning.

Eventuall the sun came up - Owens Valley, 9000 feet below is still asleep.

I think I posted this before, but it has to be repeated here, in the proper order. Whitney's shadow with the full moon that illuminated the trail for us the night before

A very special place - can't wait to be back up there for the sunrise, some time around July 16/17 this year (twice)

Whitney Crest

Upper Hitchcock Lake, west of the crest

Vintage Mt. Whitney Trail - these solar toilets do not exist any longer (it's now "wag bag" territory)