Brooke and I are trying to finish climbing California's 14,000 ft peaks by the end of this summer. We have 6 left, so we've got our work cut out for us. As part of our training to get back into shape after not doing much hiking all winter, we decided to spend the weekend in the Mount Whitney area. We had originally planned on hiking up the main trail to Trail Camp at 12,000 ft on Friday. But since Mammoth had been getting dumped on, and the snow conditions were too good to pass up, we decided to go skiiing on Friday instead. So, our plans changed to getting an early start up the trail Saturday morning, April 8th. Well, niether of us are morning people so our early start turned into a late start. There is still a lot of snow on the road, so we had to park at about 7,300 ft, about a mile down from the trail head. We ended up only getting to Outpost Camp, at 10,350 ft, because of the late start. Walking up the snow covered road to the trail head with Mount Whitney in the background. There's still a lot of snow. Looking back down at the Alabama Hills and Lone Pine. Brooke making her way up through the snow. Sure is nice not having to follow the switchbacks on the trail... Brooke in the distance. We're getting close to Bighorn Meadow at this point. Moon rise over the mountains. We found a nice spot in the trees at Outpost Camp to set up our tent. After a little digging we had a nice level spot and a couple short walls to help stop the breeze. Brooke and I on Sunday morning standing in the spot where our tent had been. The view in the direction the trail goes. The switchbacks above Outpost Camp are under the snow up there. We had planned on heading up to Trail Camp before packing up and leaving, but decided just to pack up and head home. On our way out, looking back West towards Outpost Camp in the trees. Brooke checking out Thor. There was water flowing under the snow in the meadow. At this spot the snow was about 4 feet deep still. View out to Owens Valley. Brooke on our way down. Another view down to the dry, hot valley from up in the cool snow. Brooke crossing the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek.