Hi! We're headed out on the HST next week (August 15-23) and after lurking on this board for weeks (gleaning all sorts of useful info :thanks: ), I'd like to trouble y'all for some specific advice.

Sorry if some of my questions seems amateurish. Everything I know about hiking/packing/climbing I've self-taught and learned the hard way. Just happy to be alive to tell the tales! I've always been solo, but finally have a partner who is fit and eager - but less experience than me.

So I have long distance backpacking experience (4 months of 1000+ miles total on 2 Camino de Santiago excursions), some primitive camping experience (around Texas), and peak experience (non-technical, 13+K dayhikes). But I've never put all 3 of these things together, in bear country no less! So the HST will be my biggest challenge yet.

1) Bears. I understand we keep all "smellables" in the canisters, and leave those away from the tent at night. But aren't we, and our packs, "smellables" too? We, and our packs and clothes, are gonna smell like bug spray, sunblock, lipbalm, food, etc. while we're sleeping in our tent. Am I overthinking this? How OCD do we need to be about our personal odors?

2) Water. We will each carry 2 one-liter bottles, and have a steripen. I understand water is regularly available along the HST, even in this low snow year? My concern is for when we leave Guitar Lake on peak day. Between Guitar Lake, up to the peak and back down to Trail Camp, I'm thinking that 2 liters each is inadequate. If we also bring a 3L platypus - would 7L total be adequate for 2 people for that stretch, including the peak ascent?

3) Warmth. I expect to hike in light pants and a teeshirt. And we have a shared tent, insulated pads and 20 and 30 degree bags, so hopefully that will be fine for sleeping mid-August. But for camp evenings, as well as altitude (Kaweah Pass & Whitney), I'm not sure how we should pack. I have lightweight silk top & bottoms, midweight smartwool top & bottoms, a windshirt and a down vest - as well as a wool hat, fleece turtle, gloves and a rain poncho (and an emergency blanket). Is this adequate for the HST & Whitney in mid/late August?

4) Lightning. I've never camped above tree line. We intend to spend the night before the Whitney ascent at the 11,900 tarns above Guitar Lake. What do you do if a thunderstorm rolls in when you're that far from cover? Just assume the lightning position and pray?

5) Diamox. I'm a sea-level (Houston) girl, but never had any problems at altitude (13+K max on Mt Wheeler & Walker dayhike in NM). I'm hoping the HST itself will provide the necessary acclimation time for a Whitney ascent. Along with the fact that I'm a slow hiker and obsessive hydrator. But we are going to take precautionary Diamox too. My doctor prescribed 250mg 2x daily to be taken from 2 days before we head out until 2 days after descent. My partner's doctor gave him a 500mg/2x daily prescription (even though our weights/heights aren't radically different). We'd like to know however, from other hikers' experiences, what is the lowest practical, effective dosage for our itinerary?

6) General HST or backcounty backpacking info and advice. Any and all appreciated!

Sorry for the long, wordy post! Always been terrible at editing myself :grin:! Thank to everyone!

~Adrienne (Caplen)


Last edited by caplen; 08/05/12 02:22 PM.