Mt. Whitney at Sunrise — Portal Road, Eastern Sierra
This was my first trip through the Alabama Hills and up toward Mt. Whitney. I was camped at Lone Pine Campground — a very good spot, with Lone Pine Creek running right past the campsite. The afternoon before, I had driven up to the Whitney Portal Campground to reconnoiter: a short hike, a few sketch shots, a beer in the warm sun and cool air, and a long look at the mountain from the road. I knew full well that morning would likely not bring a sky-on-fire sunrise, but I still got up at 4:30, pulled the kit together, and headed back up.
There is something clarifying about reaching almost 7,000 feet and realizing that the spire in front of you is still another 7,000 feet higher. Mt. Whitney — 14,505 feet, the highest point in the contiguous United States — does not announce itself from below the way it does from here. The Portal Road delivers you to a threshold where the scale becomes impossible to reason away. The mountain simply occupies the sky.
No clouds that morning, but the sun was brilliant, and the light streaming through the pines was warm and welcoming.
Fine Art Eastern Sierra Photography Print
Alpenglow and sunlight illuminate Mt. Whitney and the Portal Road approach.
