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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2
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I just arranged for a day permit to hike the main trail next month. I understand that the leader is to have the permit on them at all times. I had read from prior posts that the Rangers will stop and ask to see your permit. What happens if my group has to separate? Am I to make copies of the permit to give to each person so they have "proof" that they are legal? Sorry for the newbie question.
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 548
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As of a few years ago (2001) when my son and I did Whitney on an overnight permit, they issued hang tags for both of us for our packs. I had the full permit, he had just a hang tag.
Don't know for sure that they do the same for dayhikers but it makes eminent sense to do so since you're not always going to be within arm's reach of each other.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 71
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Good question.
On my only non-solo hike, in 2003, I was the leader in a group of 5. All made the summit, but it turned out we had quite a disparage in abilities and spread out on the way up. At that time they had a system of colored tags that were given to non-leaders to fasten to their packs. I initially looked upon the tag thing as a little Big Brotherish (L.A. County once tried a short-lived program for their trails in which you were supposed to buy a license and hang it on you like a fishing license...) But I had everyone wear them and it turned out to be helpful in an unexpected way. The laggard in our party decided to summit late, and then took a serious wrong turn on the way down (for those of you unfamiliar with the trail, there is only one possible place where that can be done), and wound up seeking assistance from the ranger at Crabtree. The ranger was able to trace back to me, and sent me a letter with details of the incident, above and beyond what the victim reported to me.
But in the past couple of years I haven't seen the tags anymore...so is there a photocopy machine somewhere in Lone Pine or some other system now in use?
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 31
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When a group of 8 of us dayhiked Whitney at the beginning of the month, I was the group leader and remember reading somewhere that I just had to give everyone in my group the 6 digit permit number to give to the ranger (along with my name) if they were stopped. This is what we did and it worked out fine when each of us got stopped and checked by the ranger at different times.
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 113
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We had the hang tags for the packs last year last year in 2005 and were checked in a group of four.
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 60
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Last year, they had green hang tags for dayhikers and yellow hang tags for overnighters. This year was different. No tags and photocopies of the permit. Our group of 8 got separated at Trail Camp. Two of us pushed to the top while the others decided to turn back. As we came down the summit, we were met by 2 rangers and they asked if we were from the "parking lot" side. I told them the story of our group and that was the topic of conversation. A few laughs and thoughts and that was it. Just be truthful about your group. The rangers know that groups do split up and are very understanding.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 52
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Was up the Main Trail and Back 10-11 August.
At that time the ranger station in Lone Pine, "was out of the tags" that were attached to ones pack. We were told to, "not even worry about it". Saw 5 Rangers in total from the trail head and back and only one asked to see our permit. Both of us were together at the time so, this didn't present the problem of a group being apart. Hope this helps. Might just want to ask the Lone Pine Office when you arrive.
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 212
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Posts: 212 |
I led a large group on August 3rd for our annual one-day hike. While last year, they had the individual hang tags for each person in the group, this year (just like two years ago), they only issued the permit to the leader. So, while I had the permit attached to my day pack in plain sight, no one else in the group had anything. Each person in my group had the permit number, plus was instructed to give my name if stopped by a ranger. It was no big deal, since we saw no rangers at all the entire day. It will be no problem for you, or anyone else. If it was, I am sure that the ranger station would take the time to issue individual permits again, but I guess this is one cost-savings measure that they do.
Michael T
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 17
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Took a group of 4 out last Wednesday, August 23rd on a 3 day permit. We were issued yellow tags for each person. All others we saw on the trail had either yellow (overnight) or green (single day) tags.
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 22
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On a recent trip in July, we wrote down the permit number and the name of the team leader. We had no problems when stopped and asked for our permit by the rangers.
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2
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Sounds great! They will either give me a tag for my partner or I will give her the permit number. Simple enough  Thank you all for the help, Dale
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