Snacking Bear: I think I ran out of steam on the trip report. Sorry. The last day and a half were not too eventful.
I hiked from the JMT/HST junction at Wallace Creek part way on the JMT southbound, then detoured up the Arctic Lake drainage. I was considering trying to climb the north slope of Whitney, but I couldn't see any route that didn't have extremely steep granite. I think anyone who does it is hiking on snow using crampons, which give much better traction.
So I continued over the Russell-Whitney pass and down to Iceberg Lake. Loaded up on water, and then climbed up to the Whitney summit, and spent the night inside the hut. It took 2 hours from Iceberg to the summit. Wish I could have talked to the hikers camped at Iceberg, but it was late, so I just grabbed water and headed up the Mountaineer's Route. The hike down was so uneventful that I don't recall anything significant from it. It was fun, though, to see all the JMT hikers arrive at dawn from Guitar Lake, to watch the sunrise.
Here nine years later, I've had a TKR (Total Knee Replacement) which is great -- no pain, no weakness, no trouble. It's a great improvement over the knee that went downhill after my big/best hiking years. Now I'm looking ahead to maybe an ankle replacement on the same right leg. Broke it when I was 22, tore the joint wide open in a motorcycle accident. Now the joint is almost bone-on-bone; I have to wear a major brace for hiking, and get a steroid shot to keep it happy. I think the bad ankle may have led to the knee failing, as my other is still really strong and worry-free. | 
