I've come down the section between LPL and the portal 4 times now. The two times that I did it in the dark were absolutely miserable. I kept saying to myself "not one more flippin switchback?!" (note the silent whining in my voice as I am saying it)
The best one was when I did a dayhike to LPL with my (then 9yo) son in Nov 2008. We played pine cone soccer all the way down the trail. Warning, good pinecones start becoming scarce about halfway down. It really did help to pass the time.
Although, it may have just been that it was a simple dayhike to LPL and not a summit venture.
