In 2021, my hiking partner bill and I did the 22-mile single day trek up Mount Whitney. On the way down we said we’d never hike it again. Fast forward 11 months and we found ourselves on a 3 day overnight backpacking trip across 41 miles with 50 pounds on our back. On the last morning, we woke up at 3AM to finish the ascent to hell on top of Mount Whitney. Bill burned up the mountain and I was gassed so on the way up I broke out the camera and decided to catch the sunrise. The Alpenglow was amazing on this final sunrise and I was so happy I took the time to slow down and enjoy it. After this hike we drove straight to Yosemite and finished our trip with another 16 mile hike up to the top of half dome. This was the hardest week of hiking I have ever done in my life.

Mount Whitney, CA