Hitchcock Basin, elevation 13000 ft / 4 km

The beginning of the end: a shot from a nightly ascent of Mount Whitney, the highest point of a Sierra Nevada through-hike, and also the highest point of the contiguous US for that matter. The colors on the horizon are from air glow, fire and even city lights over 100 miles away. The summit of Whitney is just out of the frame on the right, and you can see the lights of some of the other hikers starting to get ready for their ascent at the lower elevations. It was quite the adventure getting to this spot, and I'm glad to have this image to remember it by.