Black and white photo of hikers among summit boulders beside the stone Smithsonian hut on Mount Whitney.

The Highest Roof

Mount Whitney Summit, Sequoia National Park, California

The summit hut at 14,505 feet, mid-morning, day two of twenty-two. Everyone around me had finished something; I had 220 miles left, and standing there I started calling this spot mile zero. Monochrome because summit light at ten in the morning has no color worth keeping — but the shapes, the blocks and the little stone house on the roof of the lower 48, carry the whole story by themselves.

Nikon Z 7_2 · 17-35mm f/2.8D · 35mm · f/5 · 1/1000 · ISO 80

June 30, 2025

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