Most backpackers have felt it, that moment of quiet exultation when you’re sitting somewhere in the back country and you’re gifted with a moment of glorious wonder, of abject humility, at the display before you. In our case, it was an August evening in our camp next to Crabtree Meadow in the southern Sierra Nevada, looking east to the sun setting on Mount Whitney, 14,505 feet, and its companion spires.
After a little planning I worked out a menu for the trip that cost $48.60 – one third of the cost of a freeze dried menu and that only weighed 160 ounces or 12 pounds – including the bear canister. I ate 13 meals that averaged 2300 calories, 250g carbs, 100g fat, and 100g of protein per day! At the end of the trip I still had some food leftover – even after off-loading a bunch with a thru hiker and trading some for toilet paper with another group of hikers!
Colin sprayed (climber’s term for shameless plug) about the awesomeness of the Cascades and how other mountain ranges, such as the Tetons or the High Sierras, paled in comparison.
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