Just like every other Southern California hiker, I decided after having my first taste of what it feels like to summit a mountain, that Mount Whitney should be on my “to do” list.  If you’re not familiar with Mount Whitney, it’s the highest peak in the lower 48 standing at 14,505’ and the highest peak in California.  On February 1st the lottery opened to apply for a permit to hike the Mount Whitney Zone so I applied.  I won’t know until March 24 when they post the results whether or not I’ll actually get a permit, but I thought -- why not try.  The hike can be done as a 22 mile round trip day hike, but I’d want to break it up over a day or two which would require overnight camping.  Camping is a whole other challenge I’ll have to tackle!  Taking a day or two would allow my body to acclimatize to the altitude and although I’ve never experienced any symptoms of AMS, I’ve also never been up 14,000+’.  While the chances of getting a permit are actually pretty slim, there’s always that “just maybe”.  So we’ll see what happens.  It would be a great challenge for me and it looks like it’s an incredibly beautiful hike.  Summit or not, I know hiking the Mount Whitney Trail would be a beautiful experience and one of my goals before I turn 50 which will be in September of 2019.