July 4, 2002.

Scotty and I set out to get 4 peaks today, Mt. Muir being the first on the list. We camped at Tuttle Creek Campground, got up early, and headed for the Portal. No bears in evidence, and very few tourists. Left the Portal at 5:15 am. Passed through Trail Camp at 7:15, reached Trail Crest at 8:10, and the summit of Muir at 8:25 for a total time of 3:10. We left the Whitney trail just a short way past Trail Crest at a pile of rocks posing as a cairn, and cruised up the gully to the 3rd class section. I've heard this section called class 4, but it seemed to be pretty straight forward 3rd class to me. Still, it was a nice change from plodding up the Whitney Freeway. Posed for some summit photos, and headed out for Whitney, Russell, and Carillon. We passed only 20 tourists on the way up, and none were on top of Muir. I first summited Muir in 2000, again as a side trip from an ascent of Whitney. For Scotty's take on this peak, click here.