DEATH VALLEY TO MOUNT WHITNEY; SISTERS START 124-MILE BENEFIT TREK.

Byline: Romy Jacobson Daily News Staff Writer

Two Antelope Valley sisters headed out Friday to try to become the first women to complete the 125-mile hike from Death Valley to Mount Whitney.

Twenty-seven-year old Holly Freeman and 24-year-old Jennifer Freeman will go from Badwater, the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level, to the top of Mount Whitney, at 14,495 feet the highest point in the United States outside Alaska.

``I'm nervous. This is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done,'' said Holly Freeman, a union sheet metal worker and accomplished equestrian and hiker.

``I'm very excited and a little nervous,'' said Jennifer Freeman, a dance instructor who first climbed Mount Whitney at age 8. ``You're never really quite prepared.''

The trek is intended to raise money for the Children's Center of the Antelope Valley, a nonprofit agency that treats abused children, through pledges of money made for each mile the women walk.

``I don't think people do enough to recognize the problem,'' said Holly. ``It's horrific, they don't want to see the problem.''

The women are no strangers to the outdoors, and have been hiking and camping since they were children with their father, archeologist and adventurer Jerry Freeman. Freeman made the first cross-country hike from Badwater to Whitney in in 1989 with wilderness photojournalist Lee Bergthold.

The two women will hike at night for the first part of their 16-day journey, using snowshoes to get through Death Valley's 8-mile-wide quicksand-like bogs, the most treacherous part of their trip.

The Freeman sisters will carry their provisions in backpacks weighing 35 to 45 pounds. They will receive a fresh supply of water every two days at checkpoints manned by their father and friend Bruce Larrick.

``I'm glad that they decided to mix their sense of adventure with hiking for a good cause,'' said Donna Freeman, the women's mother.

While the sisters are hiking, Donna Freeman will take care of Holly's 23-month-old-daughter, Destiny, and Jennifer's 4-year old son, Vinnie, and bring them to the checkpoints to see their mothers.

``I want people to know that you can overcome your obstacles,'' said Jennifer. ``This is not only a physical obstacle, but a mental obstacle as well.''

``Don't think you have to stay in the norm,'' said Holly. ``Women can do whatever they want to do.''

For more information on the Children's Center of the Antelope Valley, contact resource director Ingrid Chapman at [phone].

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Photo

Photo: (color) Sisters Jennifer, left, and Holly Freeman check their gear preparing for their 125-mile hike.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News