The night before the big climb Rhonda and I arrived at the Whitney Portal Campground and met up with our friend Jim Milliken and two of his friends from New Jersey, Mike and Alma. We had just flown into Vegas the night before and spent the day wondering around Death Valley. The desert of Death Valley is a couple of hundred feet below sea level and the elevation at the Portal was over 8,000 feet. At first I really couldn't feel altitude difference, but then I walked downhill about a hundred yards from the campsite. When I returned for the walk back uphill I knew I was working on limited oxygen. Over the next couple of days as we climbed higher and higher the altitude really took its toll on our east coast bodies.

Mt. Whitney Trip Report Page 2 >>