6/10

We are beyond the reach of humans now, and at the doorstep of heaven. Sheer cliffs catch the last light of the sun and leave the deep valleys in shadow. The thundering fall of water beneath sheets of ice echoes from below. Everything around me is white or brown- stacks of snow and rock dominate a landscape of giant proportions, without a sight of plant or animal. 11,600 feet in the glacial cirque below Mt. Whitney is a glimpse of the desert and the arctic, and the waiting room to another world. Tomorrow the six of us- Milkshake, Cliffhanger, Uncle Tom, Furniture, Rally and I- now huddled in rocks, will rise with the dawn to stand on America's highest point.