Mount Whitney and Muir

Published on 2026-07-29 by Michael Stanton

Well this was a really special trip. A few months ago, Marie lucked into a 2 night wilderness permit in the Whitney Zone. She invited us folks on the Mountain Pals chat to join if we could, and I couldn't say no. By combining the trip down to California with another very special trip to visit old friends in LA, I'd have the best of all possible worlds!

Marie and Emilee would be coming down straight from a run at Mount Shasta. In the end, they got very close to the summit, but attempting the whole thing in a day ended up being logistically problematic, and they (showing good character) turned around a few hundred feet from the top in ridiculous wind. We all met at the Whitney Portal Campground, enjoyed a good dinner, and went to sleep, keen to hike early to avoid heat down at this low elevation of 8,000 feet!

Our robust vehicles, symbol of wealth and safety in a good land!

Michael and Emilee on approach

Falls near the trailhead

Sean H was also with us. In the morning, we started up, me and Emilee in the lead until reaching a creek to fill water near Lone Pine Lake. We continued up to Mirror Lake, where we hung out for a full six hours in order to avoid hanging out up high in broiling sun above the trees.

During this time, I shared a logic problem I'd learned about, where blue and brown-eyed people live on an island. The blue-eyed people are ordered to leave, however they aren't doing it because no one is allowed to speak or signal in any way about eye color. So you don't know if you have blue eyes -- how can you leave? But a visitor comes one day and says "I have seen someone with blue eyes."

That unleashed the whirlwind. But the whirlwind takes a curious form, which I must express in a somewhat stilted way. Here is what happens:

• If there are N blue-eyed people on the island, then on day N (a boat leaves every morning), all N blue-eyed people get on the boat and leave.

The logic puzzle solution is to explain why this happens.

Emilee stops for a water break

Emilee keen on the trail!

Marie and Sean at our first rest stop

Looking down on Lone Pine Lake

We had a lot of fun with it! If fun can include frustration, that is. But mountain climbing includes frustration, yes?

As Sean pointed out later, the salient point of the exercise is in recognizing how public knowledge can deeply affect private, individual reasoning. Anyway, if you search on the web for the problem you'll find it. Give it a shot...accept a hint if need be, but don't just read the answer! That would be like taking a lift to the top of the mountain, and around here, that simply isn't done.

After our long break, we hiked up to a shady spot at the terminus of the great granite wall above Mirror Lake, then finished the slog to Trail Camp. We'd considered camping at Consultation Lake, but since it didn't have trees, and it was at a lower elevation than Trail Camp, we couldn't muster sufficient enthusiasm -- better to camp as high as possible to make summit day shorter.

Looking down on Mirror Lake, where we had a long rest

The four of us enjoying a patch of shade on the way to Trail Camp

Sean hiking to Trail Camp

Marie pushes through after the big Shasta adventure

We loved our "freeze-dried" dinners. Those things are really good. I was enjoying my new stove which performed really well. Marie had an interesting meal where the stove was contained in the food itself, as a kind of chemical reaction, so she didn't need the novelty of an external butane cannister and a Pocket Rocket.

We slept, with Mount Muir and other peaks of the crest above us. We got up at 4:30 am, and were pretty much off by 5:00. I went a bit ahead, and found to my delight that the trips to high elevation over the previous week had finally paid off! I was able to move quickly, and without that exhausting feeling that had dogged me for White Mountain and Bear Creek Spire. Really enjoying the switchbacks along a kind of balcony trail in a steep granite slope, I observed the dawn a little bit below the Trail Crest. I even ran occasionally above that. I was on top after 2 hours, 20 minutes of hiking, amid a crowd of all and sundry.

Emilee alongside the creek coming down from Consultation Lake

Consultation Lake, where we thought about camping but didn't

Mount Muir from Trail Camp in the evening

My tent at Trail Camp as the sun sets

Before long, Emilee was there, then Sean and Marie. Marie fought through some nausea and headache, which was frustrating because she's always been great at altitude. Big congratulations for pushing through! We took a bunch of pictures and reluctantly made our way down.

I found the "goat trail" Marie had identified to head up to Mount Muir, then went up it with Sean and Emilee. We had a picture with a little blue line on it (from Summitpost.org) showing the easiest scrambling way. We followed this exactly, and soon sat rather nervously on the summit. It felt very exposed! As usual, we felt much better once we'd reversed the interesting moves and stood by our packs at the base of the summit block.

An image from the trail in the early morning

A similar image

Sean at sunrise

An image from Emilee, I'm not sure what it looks down on, perhaps a lake below the spires from the ridge leading to Whitney?

We took off for camp, me finding a JMT hiker and quizzing him about many particulars. He was fast, so the two of us ran down a bit ahead. Marie was counting switchbacks (I think 97?).

Emilee, Sean, Marie and myself on top!

Your hero being heroic ;)

At camp, the tent was awfully hot and uncomfortable. I packed up and stomped down to Mirror Lake. The rest of the crew found me there and bade me continue with them to Outpost Camp. We went there, slightly unhappy with the campsites...either in the sun or right by the trail. I was so tired, I lay in my tent and spent an hour alternately napping and blowing up my sleeping pad, which acquired a layer of drool because I kept falling asleep like a baby at the breast!

Haha...

Anyway, eventually the sun went away and we had a good dinner. Poor Emilee had hikers stomping by her tent all night, once even tripping on a guy wire. I couldn't get back to sleep after stepping out for a leak after midnight, so eventually I decided to pack up and hike down. I was keen on some "Nutter Butter" cookies in the bear box by my car, and I knew I could sleep in the back, too.

So I enjoyed a wonderful night hike. California is so great for that. The temperature is pleasant, and the night is invigorating. Large parties of hikers kept passing me, confused by my odd presence. "Are you just now coming down?" they would ask. I'd just say yes, without explaining further. Better to let them go, and let me go back to my communion with the night. Deer were nestling in the forest, and would look at me with steady twin eyes. I would murmur a good evening to them, not keen to startle them.

Emilee approaches the Muir summit block

A similar image

A view looking out

A bit of scrambling to the summit of Muir

Three of us on Muir's summit

Marie got this photo of us climbing down from the top

An image of Sean downclimbing

Me climbing down from Muir

I was sleeping by 3:30 am, and set the alarm for 7:00 when I thought the store would open for tea and strumpets! Alas, it wouldn't open until 9. So reading and meditation were my lot, sitting by the store. They opened and I patiently waited about 7 minutes for the team to arrive. When I didn't see them, I ordered a huge breakfast. A few minutes later, they arrived. They'd visited Lone Pine Lake on the way down, an admirable side journey that yielded beautiful pictures. Over a delicious breakfast we talked about assisted suicide, about dementia and similar topics. My goodness...for basically happy people (as we certainly are), we can venture into deep and dark forests as we converse!

You know, I do a lot of solitary trips, and not many with a larger group. I had so much fun, and I think we did so well in our management of energy, of sun and shade, of pacing and appropriate carefulness. The "brain" we made from the four of us was the best brain. A much better one than this tired old "Kopf." A big thanks to Sean and Emilee and Marie, who kicked it all off which an invitation.

Lone Pine Lake on the hike out

The four of us after a fantastic breakfast at the store