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My great-grandparents are Dean Hathaway Prewitt who was born September 8th, 1911 in Fort Morgan, Colorado, and Audrey Milton King who was born on January 12th, 1914 in Artesia, California. They married in 1934 in Long Beach, California. They loved nature and spent many summers at the base of Mt Whitney in California. They also were active members of the Sierra Club for many years. They had three girls: Deanne, Denise, and my grandma Donna. My grandma Donna spent her first 18 summers at the Whitney Portals and climbed to the top of Mt Whitney four times. Donna's daughter, my mom, spent the night in a cabin at Whitney Portals when she was only one year old. Mt. Whitney is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain in the continental United States. The highest peak is 14,494 feet. Many people come from all over the world to hike Mt. Whitney. Some people can hike it in one day, but many stay overnight along the trail. The starting point is at Whitney Portals, and a popular camping area is called Outpost Camp. Outpost Camp is 3.5 miles up the trail. People also camp a lot at Trail Camp which is 6.5 miles up. It is 11 miles to get to the top from Whitney Portals. Because of the altitude, it is slow hiking for many people. If you hiked it in one day then it might take around 10 hours depending on how fast or slow you walked. My great-grandpa spent 50 summers working at and around Mt Whitney. He helped rebuild stoves in campsites, and worked for cabin owners building their sturdy rock fireplaces and chimneys. He became especially close to the Knoeppel family and they would let him use their cabin anytime he wanted. Some of the fireplaces were florescent or glow-in- the dark. For firewood he would put a stick of dynamite in a tree and then he would blow it up, then he would have a lot of firewood for all the fireplaces that he built. He also repaired the Smithsonian hut on the very top of Mt. Whitney. The National Forest Service hired him because of his excellent reputation as a stone-worker and mountaineer. He had to haul supplies up there with a mule. The hut had originally been built in 1909. My great-grandma ran a cook-tent at Outpost camp for two summers. She fed hikers that spent the night at Outpost Camp before they would head for the summit the next day. She even baked pies! Again, they had to bring the supplies in by mule. When my great-grandma was up there alone she would sleep with a hammer under her pillow so that she could protect herself if she ever needed to. Today, over 50 years have passed since my great-grandparents first went to Mt. Whitney. Many cabins with their rock fireplaces, including the Knoeppel cabin, still stand. The campfire stoves are still being used, and the Smithsonian hut continues to shelter travelers at the very peak of Mt. Whitney. Although my great-grandma died in 1996, my great-grandpa is still alive at age 93. He lives in Joshua Tree, California. He still helps out on Sierra Club projects, and as recently as 2001 he was back to visit Mt. Whitney. Dean Hathaway Prewitt passed away May 25, 2005 in Colton, California |