Today I covered 12.8 miles, 20.7 km. The trail traversed the mountainside high above the meadows from yesterday, before dropping into a canyon to cross onto another mountain ridge. The trail quickly climbed back to 10 689 ft, 3258 m, where I made camp for the night.

I got on trail at 8 am, and immediately faced amazing views over the same meadows which I was walking through yesterday. The trail crossed the mountainside, climbing slightly to reach a saddle up ahead.

The view from the saddle was obscured by trees, but I stepped off trail about 30 m to get up on some rocks. From up here I could see far off mountains with snow patches on top. These mountains are exactly where I’m headed, and I’ll get the chance to see them up close in just a couple of days.

I began to descend, through the high forest of Sequoia trees, into more dense woods. The air became warmer and thicker as I descended to about 9000 ft. I’d only spent one night above 10 000 ft, but already, coming down to 9000 ft felt like getting boost.

The trail emerged into a beautiful meadow, surrounded by mountains. Once I crossed the valley I filled my water bottles with 3 L and then began the long climb back up to 10 000 ft.

The climb was very tough, but rewarding. For the first hour I got to see the valleys and mountains below me slowly becoming farther away. After a couple of hours, things below looked flat, and I couldn’t see the change in elevation so easily. At that point, I got the first glimpse of Mt Whitney far off in the distance. It looked massive from here and dwarfed all the mountains before it.

Right near the top of my climb, I reached some sharp switchbacks. I had to remember to move slowly and avoid getting lightheaded as I pushed past 10 600 ft.

I decided to make camp at this point to see how I react to the altitude, and also help acclimate a bit. I will be going above 11 000 ft soon, so any acclimation time will be useful. From camp, I could walk to the edge of the ridge and see the desert far below me, a stunning visual of how far I’ve come in the last few days.