Reflections from Hiking Mt. Whitney in One Day

The strenous twenty-two mile hike has everything even an experienced hiker can worry about. Extreme uphill switchbacks and incredibly steep dropoffs with huge rocks made it difficult to progress quickly. The slippery ice on the trail made some parts lethally dangerous. But despite all the dangers one could worry about, there was multiple water sources before the ninenty-nine switchbacks section. The hike requires one to wake up at three o'clock and to start hiking in the darkness by using headlamps. The hike then begins with a series of switchbacks that take about an hour and a half. There are small switchbacks that lead to the notorious ninety-nine switchbacks that take about two hours and a half. After the ninety-nine switchbacks, there is a saddle that is about thirteen thousand six hundred feet high. After that there was a group of loose rocks that were about a mile long. After struggling through the rocks there was still a descent ascent to the fourteen thousand five hundred foot peak. But once you reach the peak the hike isn't over yet. There is still the descent from the peak that is just as hard as the ascent. It is more dangerous on the way down because it is more slippery and it also starts to get darker towards the end of the day. So therefore, headlamps are essential for the hike.

I believe that trying to finish the hike in one day is extremely hard but I myself managed to get to the peak in just a single day. The hike was at a high altitude so I took some Ibuprofen to relieve my headache. I fell asleep after I made it to the peak because I was so exhausted. At one point on the hike in the ninety-nine switchbacks area an icicle came loose and nearly hit someone. But despite the dangers of the hike, I kept going through the night with a fair amount of complaining until we finally reached the cars past midnight. We spent close to 20 hours hiking which made it the toughest day I had ever experienced in my life!