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We’ve been climbing gym rats for most of the summer, as I’ve had a several month flareup in my arthritic knee which I’d like to think is behind me. Fortunately, bouldering and toproping do not seem to aggravate the knee, so I have had plenty of entertainment.

We packed our gear and headed for the Sierra with the thought of bagging another California Fourteener – either Mount Russell or Middle Palisade.

Since we live nearly at sea level (180′ according to my GPS; close enough to sea level, high enough not to drown when the Arctic ice caps and all the glaciers melt), we always attempt to get some altitude acclimatization under our belts before heading alpine with our packs.

Mount Dana is my favorite test piece – it’s convenient, it’s killer (~6 miles rt, 6200 feet of elevation change, better than 1000 feet altitude change per mile hiked, tops out above 13,000 feet), and I love the views from the top. Basically, if we can’t cruise Dana, we’re not really ready for a backcountry Fourteener. The trail to Mount Dana starts east of the road directly across from the Tioga Pass ranger station – go through a small parking lot and pick up the prominent use trail.

Knee brace, hiking poles (loaded for bear as I hadn’t hiked much for months, and nothing like Dana for – well, a long time) and off we went, enjoying the morning sunshine, flowers, marmots, pikas and (mostly) solitude. You’ll likely not be alone on Dana, but it won’t be anything like the Disneyland atmosphere of Yosemite Valley.

All went pretty well, at least to the Marmot Hut (what I call the pile of rocks just over a break in the climbing roughly 1700 feet up) where we stopped for a snack and a rest. From the Marmot Hut, we headed east toward the big pile of talus and scree that constitutes the western slope of Dana. Picking our way through the talus (there are ducks everywhere, choose the path of least resistance and go – as long as you’re moving up, you’re doing the right thing), Carol started experiencing some altitude sickness (nausea). It was bad enough that she wanted me to go on without her, but – we’re a team and we either peak together or not at all. Several stops, then 30 feet from the top she felt done and then one of our impromptu hiking compadres pointed out she had done 98% of the work (more like 99+%, but  why dither); she gathered herself and we were on the peak.

I was pointing out some of  the landmarks visible from the peak (Mono Lake, Boundary Peak in Nevada, White Mountain) and Carol’s hiker friend (Clyde Gillette, Lepidopterist and Hiker Extraodinaire) says “That’s Boundary Peak? I’ve climbed that like 3 times. And I climbed White Mountain last week.” As it turns out, this guy is 82 years old, from Salt Lake City, and said he was the founder of the Utah branch of the Sierra Club there.

This made us feel better about getting our asses kicked on the hike by an 82 yo man. One can only hope to be doing what he’s doing at that age.

Side note – later in the trip, at the White Mountain ranger station, we found an incredible poster of the Sierra Eastside – here’s a link to the artist’s online copy. If you get a chance, buy one – it’s awesome and quite  inspirational. It points out 8 of the California Fourteeners, too.

Lunch, pictures, peak register, general hanging out and then we headed down the mountain. Just so you know, even though it’s an out-and-back trip, it seems to be at least twice as far back as it is out. 3,000 feet of steep downhill – I hate downhill.

My knee seemed OK, but now there’s a new weakest link – my back. Bad enough that we decided we weren’t ready yet to head into the backcountry with packs.

After a rest day, we planned another ambitious hike – not as much altitude, but plenty of distance – Cloud’s Rest in Yosemite.

Pictures from Mount Dana.