A Frightening Lesson | My Journey To Mount Whitney

hello welcome to my journey to Mount Whitney this is the final of this series I'm here in Whitney campground I got here early so I could get acclimated to the elevation before my hike tomorrow I got up early this morning and did a nice little hike up to Lone Pine Lake there and back was about eight miles as a nice that'll warm up before tomorrow's big hike up to Mount Whitney the tallest mountain in the lower 48 and I wanted to show you guys what I will be bringing on my check to mal Whitney so the first thing is it's gonna be early I'm leaving a 4 in the morning I'm expecting it to be chilly so I have my beanie and my gloves and I'll be wearing this with a sweater and I will be taking that off probably a couple hours into my hike and then putting them back on when I get to the top because I hear it's gonna be about sixty degrees lots of wind and so that would be good to have to keep me nice and warm next is my light I will be leaving at 4 in the morning so it's gonna be dark and I don't want to be tripping over my feet or boulders or crevasses or whatever so I'll be using this for a couple hours into my hike before the Sun comes up next is my water and my water purification tablets this is 32 ounces I'll be having two of these in my backpack and I will be filling them up along the way and if I have any questionable water I throw these tabs in there makes it healthy so I don't get sick last thing I want is to get sick in the middle of this hike I have a map this gives me all the landmarks I'll be looking for with the mileage and I will be happy happening my my Apple watch with my Strava app so I could be matching the miles to this or if I get like way off course I'll kind of know it by looking at this these landmarks I have my GoPro I will be using this to get some hands-free footage I want this video to be as good as possible so I'll be using this when I can't use my hands to record have my walkie talkie there's no cell phone service up here so this will be a good way of me of being in contact with my family letting them know where I'm at they could check on me and I could get in a final message that I made it to the top so that'll be this will be handy and for my safety there is no it is not much blocking the Sun once you get higher up so I'll be using a lot of sunblock putting this on at least a couple times an hour and as I said I want this footage to be as good as possible so I have a gimbal I'll be putting my phone in here so I can get some nice stable shots at least I have my hiking poles I don't know how much I'll be using these heading up but I think I will definitely be using them heading down so I'll be exhausted as you see I'm well prepared I got a good lot of I got some good training hikes in before this I got some good boots so you feel good so I'm excited okay so I'm gonna go get some nice dinner hit the bed about eight o'clock or so wake up at three getting a lot of sleep and head off to this beautiful hike so it's 4:00 in the morning and I'm starting right on time it's very dark out here I'm the only one here which is cool it stars it out and the moon is lit so it's a little bit of light but I got my trusty headlamp here to help me on the beginning of this alright head on out 22 miles to go [Music] [Music] [Music] so I made it a known pine lake it's about 5:45 in the morning made it here in about an hour and a half or so a pretty uneventful besides seeing a family of deer I was pretty cool it's a beautiful morning it was a cool seeing the sunrise come over the mountains that was awesome so I'm gonna sit here for a few minutes have a snack and uh take on enough so my next stop is I'll post camp but a mile way [Music] [Applause] [Music] so I'm here outpost camp we're about three and a half miles in about ten thousand four hundred elevation I believe I feel good so far no signs of acclimation sickness I just had a sandwich feeling good it's a beautiful morning out here yeah the trail to this point so far is easily visible no I had no problem getting up here some beautiful views okay off we go [Music] [Music] [Applause] so I'm here at Mirror Lake how beautiful that is this is an awesome view [Music] okay so I'm about six miles in it's getting warm out here good thing I got sunblock I'm still feeling pretty good though just trucking along I think I have about a mile and a half for so talkative trail camp I mean uh at that point I have some like some good acts I'm just taking my time no rush beautiful day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Music] all right so I'm now at trail camp it is now 10:30 I'm about see six and a half hours into my hike I'm now about to hit the infamous 99 switchbacks yeah it's getting pretty hot out here I don't really feel much anything from acclamation yet or the altitude maybe I don't know I guess I'll find out when I get higher but so far I feel pretty good that a stretch is kind of hard there's a lot of uphill going up steps which was tough it's nice to sit here for a minute and have a break and have a sandwich and take some get some water and now about the head out okay here we go [Music] man he's switchbacks are no joke it doesn't going on forever you is awesome look at that snow behind me it's all worth it [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] okay so I made it the trail crest thousand feet more to go elevation wise I think about another two miles or so oh man as the switchbacks were horrible I was about to quit I'd tell myself one step at a time but it's worth it I'm almost there man look at this view it's beautiful all right [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so I made it to the top this was by far the hardest thing I have ever done it took me gosh about 12 hours I think 11 something like that it was awful man it was I was expecting to be back by 6:00 I'm fine I could be back until like 8 or 9 a man this was tough well I do it again I don't know I probably have to think about that for a few days but the views were awesome man but I'm just I like to talk about this I've seen in a few days when I when the agony subsides and this was horrible man okay well let me head back down and hopefully get my hamburger but I'm glad I did it I did then but um I'm only halfway done now I got it all the way back down which hopefully should be easier [Music] [Music] No [Music] right [Music] [Music] [Music] so as you see I'm safe and sound it's a week later and you're probably wondering Anthony what happened I don't know if it was because of the elevation or the fatigue but on the way down the summit and throughout trail crest I ended up getting off the trail twice which killed about 30 minutes of precious daylight also while on the trail crest I ended up slipping and falling five times one of those times I badly twisted my ankle but I knew if I did not stop that he would swell up and he would just get worse and I had to keep pushing through the pain another time I almost slipped down the ravine but luckily I grabbed a secure Rock and is able to get myself back up onto the trail but I did lose one of my poles but I kept on pushing I had two goals one to get to the bottom of the 99 switchbacks before it got dark and second to try to catch up with another group of hikers that could lead me to the trailhead in Mount Whitney luckily I got to the bottom of the switchbacks right before it got dark but I still wasn't out of it I knew that I would not be able to navigate myself from trail camp all the way to the trailhead by myself in the dark because as I've mentioned in the past my sense of direction is not the best but luckily God sent me a wet muddy footprint when I saw that I knew that there's another group of hikers not far ahead so I pushed past the pain of my ankle and my one hiking stick and I finally caught up to them my angels the angels that God sent down for me to get home safely I told them my story about my ankle about me falling down getting lost a couple times my lack of sense of direction and they said we might be slow but we'll get you home and that is what they did by when I finally got back to trailhead at 1:30 a.m. my darling wife was in the car waiting for me she was there since 10:30 p.m. can you imagine the things that were going through her head and that was all my fault I never should have done that to her or my family I put my own life at risk all because of a goal a goal that I was not prepared for as you're going through those moments of danger possibly losing your life or getting injured the only thing you're thinking about is your loved ones you're not thinking about your goals you're not thinking about metals not thinking about YouTube subscribers or Instagram followers none of that the only thing you care about during those times are your relationships your loved ones and connections during that time all I wanted to do was get back to my wife and give her a big hug and tell my kids that I love them that was it so if you are a beginning hiker and you are going to do Mount Whitney I have three tips for you so you don't end up in the same situation I did one leave early leave about 12 a.m. 1 a.m. at the latest so then if it does take you of while like it did me you have plenty of sunlight to get back at least to one of the camps second do not do it one day if you are a beginning hiker do it in two days hike to outpost camp or trail camp stay there and let's do it the next day enjoy yourself it's a beautiful hike don't make it dangerous and it's exhausting so you want to get as much rest as possible third and the most important thing do not go by yourself go with the GUP the more the merrier as they say so those are my three tips I hope they inspired you to not make the same mistake I did but I want you to have a good time it is a wonderful hike but give that 14,500 and eight-foot behemoth the respect it deserves and be prepared so if you like this video if you found it inspiring or helpful please hit that like button also if you want to follow me on my other adventures which probably won't include hiking please hit that subscribe button thank you for following me on my journey to Mount Whitney I appreciate it and I hope that it inspires you to get out there more move your body enjoy this wonderful earth that God has given us

Channel: Running For My Best Life

Views: 4,147

Rating: 4.9075146 out of 5

Keywords: hiking mount whitney, mount whitney, mt whitney, whitney portal, mt whitney hike, mt whitney day hike, whitney trail, how to hike mt whitney, mount whitney (mountain), mt whitney summit, mt whitney hikers, whitney summit hike, whitney hike, training for mt whitney, training for mount whitney, hiking, day hiking, backpacking for beginners, my journey to mount whitney, How to hike mount baldy, running for my best life, mt. whitney, mount whitney day hike, whitney day hike

Id: fcGSJThz6GY

Length: 23min 18sec (1398 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 17 2020