Summited on the 26th with a group of 4. Trail looked great thanks to the 2 awesome rangers who constantly maintain it. We started the ascend on Thursday and there weren't that many people. Came across a family of 4 who summited with a 6 and 8 years old ! Met one guy who was finishing a 10 days hike averaging 30 miles a day and 2 groups finishing 25 days hikes on the PCT and John Muir trails.
Some observations: - At this point, the road construction is almost complete and they are building the fences and sides. Less than 30 minutes wait. - The bear canister they rent at the visitor center are heavy ! - Didn't see a single bear and no marmots at trail camp. Saw some marmots on higher ground than trail camps. Came face to face with a deer on the trail! - Visitor center ran out of extra wag bag to sell and Whitney Portal store dont sell them. - As soon as you go behind big rocks at trail camp or bushes at Outpost, highly likely you will find some stashed used wag bags. Very sad to see so much junk left on the ground by previous hikers. - Temp can fall below freezing point at Trail camp during the night. We even got some hail at one point. - It rained recently so there were plenty of places to get water. Temperature past Outpost camp were always in the 50s and 60s so we drank max 1L between water sources. No need to carry 3-6L. - The prices at the Portal store are very decent, often cheaper than REI. The food is indeed great. We tried their hamburgers, BLT, melt, all very good. - Didn't know that a 68 years old died after falling off a month ago. I would not like to do trail crest with a headlamp in pitch darkness... We did Trailcamp to Outpost with our headlights and beside missing all the scenery, it seemed like a very long journey. - Overall awesome experience and very friendly hiker community !
