What a difference a few minutes makes. This one was at about 5:15 a.m. Whitney is beginning to glow in the predawn light, but the sun had not yet touched the face. You could hear a pin drop it was so quiet, and when a few rocks rattled down the mountaineers route, (just to the right of Whitney there's a thin line of snow oriented vertically) it echoed through the basin. Speaking of the Mountaineers route, John Muir made the first ascent in 1875. That blows my mind on so many levels. The Sierra was wilder than the Himalayas are today. It's scary enough now with our high tech equipment, electronics, and most importantly - a solid understanding of what's ahead.
John Muir Wilderness, California
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