We began the trail surrounded by tall, ancient sequoias that eventually disappeared, replaced by sweeping views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We experienced a thunderstorm that luckily only brought a light drizzle of rain.

Our packs were at their heaviest at this point and the 11 miles to Bearpaw Camp was grueling. About a week before we started our hike, a mountain lion was seen on this portion of the trail. We were extra cautious in this section, and happily we only saw some deer. We set up camp and quickly went to sleep, having no idea how spectacular the next day would be.

Early in the morning, after packing up our camp we started the day off descending to Lone Pine Creek. Here, there is a bridge and we got a quick picture by a passing hiker.

Bearpaw Camp felt like the last civilized place we would encounter in a while. Ahead of us was true wilderness. On the bridge over Lone Pine Creek, looking towards the direction we were going to be headed, I could only see huge granite walls.

The hike from Lone Pine Creek to Hamilton Lake was difficult but it was incredibly easy to distract yourself with the vast wilderness we were in. Hamilton Lake is secluded and surrounded by massive granite walls that are just begging to be climbed. We took a quick lunch break here and continued our hike above Hamilton Lake where we met our first friendly marmot.

After hiking past beautiful lakes, we start descending down into the Kaweah Gap. This felt like the most remote place in the entire hike. Surrounded by dramatic mountains on all sides of us, we decided to camp in the valley.

Leaving just as the sun was rising, we were ready to hike lots of miles. We encountered marshland and creeks, which meant mosquitos. The amount of mosquitos was unimaginable and disturbing. As quickly as we could, we began gaining elevation, trying to get as far away from the bugs.

We made sufficient elevation gain and reached Moraine Lake. There were about ten other hikers here, also camping. Luckily, no bugs here but we found a rather large snake skin. My wife is terrified of snakes but hopefully we wouldn’t come across one. Spoiler alert: We would. She almost stepped on a rattlesnake the next day.

After spending the night at Moraine Lake, hiking early in the morning, almost stepping on a snake and descending to meet up with the Kern River, we finally got to the Kern River Bridge. Here, there were large granite boulders surrounded by ferns and big pine trees. Morale was low in our hiking group so we camped near a large creek, putting off crossing it until the next day.

Very rarely are the Sierra Nevada mountains not in a drought season nowadays but the year we decided to do this hike, there was record breaking snow. That meant that the amount of water in the creeks and rivers increased dramatically. After spending the night near the creek, we were motivated to get close to Mount Whitney and to cross all the river crossings we knew we had to do that day. The worst being Whitney Creek. Because of the large amount of water, we had to all link arms and cross slowly with sure footing. Luckily, no one slipped or fell into the water.

As we finished crossing the rivers and creeks, we began to gain elevation and eventually joined up with the John Muir Trail. We see more and more people but the views are also changing drastically. We have now entered the big mountain territory. This is where almost all the 13,000 and 14,000 ft mountains are located in the Sierra Nevada. As if the big mountains were welcoming us, we ended up in a thunder and lightning storm. Most people who hike Mount Whitney via the backside try to camp at Guitar Lake, located right behind Whitney. Because of the storm though, we didn’t want to be exposed to lightning. We decided to camp as closely as we could but still under the safety of trees.

At 3 A.M., we began our summit to Mount Whitney. We hiked next to Guitar Lake and started the switchbacks up the backside of Whitney. At the trail crest, we decided the skies looked clear enough and we dropped our packs to finish the climb to the top.

We summited Whitney, enjoyed the views, had some snacks and wrote our names in the record book. What a view this was. It felt like a huge accomplishment to be on the top of Whitney, surrounded by hikers who were celebrating their accomplishment.

Here's where our journey ends.