Four Extremes Trip, July/August 2009

Derrick Usher and I summited Mt. Whitney on July 29th, 2009. We also went on a road trip through Owens and Death Valleys in California, visiting Mono Lake, Bodie State Park, Scotty's Castle, Badwater, and Las Vegas before returning to Huntington Beach. 7/25-8/2/2009.

Page	Description
Garden	Backyard, newly fixed up before leaving on the trip, 25 July 2009.
Travelling North	I-15 north to Lone Pine, CA, 26 July 2009.
Manzanar	Manzanar, a WWII-era relocation camp for Japanese persons, 26 July 2009.
Lake Sabrina	Lake Sabrina, site of our final test hike, 27 July 2009.
Big Pine Veteran Memorial	Veterans' Memorial in Big Pine, CA, 27 July 2009.
Bristlecone Forest	Ancient Bristlecone pine forest at 10,000 feet, 27 July 2009.
Outpost Camp	Outpost Camp on Mt. Whitney, where we set up base camp, 28 July 2009.
Climbing Whitney	Summiting Mt. Whitney in a day--4,000 feet up, 6,000 feet down, 18 miles of walking, 29 July 2009.
Whitney Summit	Wandering around atop Mt. Whitney at 14,494 feet, 29 July 2009.
Descending Whitney	Walking down from the top of Mt. Whitney, 29 July 2009.
Alabama Hills	The Alabama hills, site of large bulbous boulders and the site of many a Western movie, 30 July 2009.
Schat's Bakkery	Stopping at Schat's Bakkery for lunch, 30 July 2009.
Tufa Grove at Mono Lake	Calcium carbonate stalagmites, aka tufa, growing out of the bottom of Mono Lake, 30 July 2009.
Bodie State Park	An old mining ghost town at 8,400 feet. Quite often the coldest place in the U.S. during the summer, so naturally we went, 30 July 2009.
Entering Nevada	Crashing in Nevada for the night, 30 July 2009.
Scotty's Castle	Scotty's Castle in the Grapevine Mountains of Death Valley. He didn't live or own the castle; that went to his good friends the Johnsons. 31 July 2009.
Death Valley	Wandering around in the heat of the day in Death Valley on 31 July 2009.
Badwater	Salt flats in Death Valley, sinking to the depth of -282 feet. Probably the hottest place in the U.S. at 126F on 31 July 2009.
Dante's Peak	Much cooler overlook of Death Valley, 31 July 2009.
The Bellagio	Scoring a decent room at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas before heading home, 31 July 2009.
Driving South	Heading back to Southern California after a long trip, 1 August 2009.