As I post excerpts from my book, ‘The Mount Whitney Journals’, they will not always be sequential. Before starting the blog, I would occasionally post excerpts on the ‘Notes’ section of my Facebook page. Today’s excerpt is from my second trip (2002) that I took with my friend Mike Shean. At this point in the hike, I’m going strong and feeling fantastic. We have already passed the spectacular Mirror Lake and are above the tree line, at around 11,000′ making our way toward Trail Camp. The area I describe in the first part of the excerpt is called the Trailside Meadow. Happy Trails!
THE MOUNT WHITNEY JOURNALS –Book II — 2002
As we follow along the creek, the trail flattens some and the flow of water is less of a torrent here than at most points below including its path through the Whitney Portal Campground. Luxuriant thick-bladed grasses grow in mounds along the bank, punctuated by yellow and purple wildflowers. This is a different beauty from the postcard-worthy Mirror Lake, but I love it no less. If they are women, Mirror Lake is Hollywood Starlet, bosomy and breathless, eyelashes, rouge and lipstick, hair and skin soft to the touch. Here, above the trees among the granite and lichens, she is Teutonic, carrying a shield and blade and can smite me or at least inflict a severe ass kicking. But the good news is she is still bosomy.
The Mountain Journals 