6/11

25 miles (642 to 766, plus 1 non pct mile to Crabtree ranger station)

We are in position to climb mt Whitney tomorrow. I wasn't sure it was possible but we made up the miles we missed yesterday because of the storm. 

We woke up soggy this morning but packed up pretty quickly in an attempt to get in some miles before it started raining again. We hiked quickly and were pleasantly surprised to get breakfast in at chicken spring lake without getting wet. We laid out all of our wet gear and clothes and everything dried. It's so nice to have dry things. The next 10 miles were gentle, winding downhill through the forest with views of granite giants on the distance. Tired and hungry we got to Crabtree meadow around 7.  We got water while watching probably about 20 deer hanging out in the meadow. We hiked 1 more mile and set up our tent, as we were eating the rain we expected all day came. 

Going up mt Whitney is a side trip off the pct. It's an additional 17 miles and a bit over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. We will leave our tent set up here tomorrow and just bring our packs with what we might need for the day. Alarms are set early to make sure we summit before the possibility of thunderstorms.