John Muir Trail - Day 16 (Climbing Mt. Whitney), California, U.S.A. (September 9, 2008)

Day 16: Guitar Lake to Whitney Portal (approximately 16.8 miles). Photos from the climb to Mt. Whitney:

Ashley on the trail to the summit at 5:00 A.M.; the perk of hiking in the dark is that you can't see how hard the climb is going to be

Looking down from the trail to the lakes below Mt. Whitney's western face

Yikes!

The final 2.5 miles along the Sierra Crest to the summit

We made it! Here we are on the summit of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States.