This was one of the longer trips, 5 days total. The standard route to climb Mt. Whitney is to start at Whitney Portal and go up and down. Instead we started so the south at Cottonwood/Horseshoe meadow and headed north along the east side ofthe moutains. By day 3 we were camping at Guitar lake on the east side of Whitney. Day 4 we hiked 3000 ft up to the summit then slept on the summit. Day 5 was all down hill but the least pleasant day. The trail from the summit to Whitney Portal is horible it has a section with over 150 switch backs then when you thinkg your at the bottom it keeps on going.

We were told that the grill at Whitney Portal made the best, juciest cheeseburgers in California so for 5 days we were craving cheeseburgers. When we got down the grill was closed for that day only because the cook had to run into town for something. It was a huge let down.