Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Portal Campground Conditions

Have never been up to Whitney Portal. Am considering staying in the campground in a travel trailer at some point, however after reading some of the posts regarding the conditions in the parking lot i.e. noise at all hours, trash, bears, disgusting toilets, etc. it makes me wonder if the conditions there are any better. Saw suggestion to stay at Cottonwood instead. Would appreciate any comments. Thanks....

Cottonwood (Horseshoe Meadows) is a good option to acclimate since it's at 10,000 feet. Just remember that the sites are walk-ins. The portal campgrounds are actually fairly nice and spaced out better than most. Having said that, in a campground, you just never know. The host there, Richard and his wife, are really nice and informative. He used to be an old Whitney horse packer with lots of stories.

Most of what is written here is about the upper part of Whitney Portal, not the family campground.

I was at the Portal at the end of May, and again during the last week of June. Stayed in the campground both times and the place was absolutely PRISTINE. It was literally the cleanest I've ever seen it.

In May, I was there with a friend who'd never been on Whitney before. He commented on how clean everything was. In June, was there with my wife; we go every year, and again, she was mightily impressed.

Every campsite had been raked; there was NO trash anywhere; trash cans were NOT full or overflowing; bathrooms were clean as it's possible for such bathrooms to be, and they were nowhere even close to being out of paper (although we brought some - just in case).

I was very surprised to read the comments since then about the state of things. Don't know what happened in July!

Based on my experience, I think it's likely exactly as WebTravis says.

I don't recall our campsite#, but both times were in the bottom half of the upper of the two Portal campground sections (see site map if that doesn't make sense). Nor did we make use of the public bear boxes across from the trailhead, so can't comment on them, but they're pretty much always a mess from what I've seen in the past.

I was at the cottonwood walk-in campground a few weeks ago and that place is really loud. The sites are so close together, and everyone has to share a few bear bins. All night long people are coming and going, opening and closing the bear bins. On Sunday the trash cans near the walk-in campground were so full you couldn't open them. Where ever you decide to go I would bring ear plugs.

July 26th we stayed in Group campsite #1. It was pristine. A beautiful site right next to the creek. The bear box was huge and clean. The trash cans easily available. After reading all the negative comments, I was concerned that conditions were that of a garbage dump, but I was pleasantly surprised. The camp bathroom was clean with lots of TP. Clean water available near all the sights. Now, the bathroom up at the trailhead was filthy and the bear boxes overloaded. It was difficult to find room for our extra food items and small cooler. In fact, some inconsiderate fool took items, not belonging to them, out of the boxes and left them on top of the box. I guess they did this to make more room for their own gear, or were trying to get to their gear and forgot to put the items back in. Either way, they left an open invitation to Yogi.

My gratitude to the camp host for keeping the place beautiful. (We never saw or heard bear activity that night. And there was no excessive noise in the campground area.)

Up at Trail Camp, now that's a different story. There were plenty of open camp sites, but quite a few smelled of urine. And, quite disgusting, there were quite a few wagbags left by arrogant owners who obviously think they can leave their sh-- anywhere they please. If you are going up the mountain, I beg of you to not leave any of your crap behind. As for the 2 AM hikers who are walking thru camp, have some consideration for the people trying to sleep in those tents you are passing by. I did not hear you, since I wear earplugs, but the rest of my group did and they were ticked off.

With pride and respect, go climb the mountain.

We stayed at the Family Campground July 30-31st. Evidently, there was a lot of bear activity on the 31st near us. A bear actually overturned one of those big bear lockers. We didn't hear a thing after our one day wonder hike to bag the peak!
The campground was one of the cleanest I have ever seen. and really quiet...at least I think it was! :-)
ScubaSue