Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Odds on getting a single MR permit in Aug.

Hey guys, I'll be backpacking through Yosemite Aug. 9-12 and I am thinking about heading down to climb the Whitney MR on the 13-14. I called and they have no permits. I think they hold 4 for walk ins. I know August is very busy, but do you think I have a shot at getting a permit the day before if I'm there at 10am. I'd hate to leave Yosemite to drive down there, only to have a line of people waiting. I could stay in Yosemite until the 14th when I have my flight back to NJ. I am thinking though that being a single permit, would have better odds than getting permits for 2 or more. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with August walkins?

Thanks for any help.

Just another thought here. If I was reading correctly, obtaining a JMT permit in Yosemite would give me permission to climb Whitney. Not sure how it works, or if that is correct, but I'm sure y'all could tell me. I would hate to take a permit from someone actually hiking the trail, but I would also hate to drive down only to be turned away. Ethics aside, is something I could do?

OK, I know I've posted about this before, since I've tried (a few years ago after moving here) to get a permit from an office other than the IAVC in Lone Pine. So I called Walter this afternoon and got the straight skinny.

No office other than the IAVC in Lone Pine is authorized to issue permits to the Whitney Zone.

The computer systems at all the FS offices will print out a permit, but that is a procedural error on the part of the issuer. Walter assured me that the office in Lone Pine is the ONLY place you can pick up ANY permits for the Whitney Zone.

Lee Vining/Mono Lake, Mammoth, and White Mountain Ranger Stations are NOT the places to pick up your Whitney Zone permits.

I've had to remind friends of this at times that I cannot just get the permit here in Bishop, and only if I schedule my patients appropriately or actually have a patient down south do I have the ability to pick up a permit.

If you have any questions about times, when to be there, etc, I would advise calling and speaking with Walter. (760)876-6222.

There may or may not be a line. But don't be disappointed if you can't get a permit for Whitney. There are many, many more things to see around here, and you can always pop into The Store for a burger!

-L

Darn, Steve had me all excited for a minute there. I called last week and they said I can pick up a walk in at 11am the day before my hike, so I figured being there an hour early would be in my best interest. I just wasnt sure if it was commong to have people there waiting at 4am or even camping out the night before(you never know).

There is definitley plenty to climb out there, but Whitney has been on my todo list for many years. Last year was the year, until my hiking partner hurt his knee in Yosemite. We drove to Lone Pine, sat on our porch at the Portal Hostel for 2 days waiting for his knee to get better, but it never happend. I just want to get this mt. done so I can move on. My wife is tired of listening to me talk about it. LOL I'll take my chances and drive on down there. If someone is in line, I'll just pay them $100 for their spot. ;-)

There's no benefit to getting there early and camping out at the Lone Pine Visitors Center...they don't go by "first come, first serve". If there are more people hoping to get permits than permits available, they will hold a “mini- lottery” and issue the permits in order of your number drawn. At least that’s what they did last year.

Last year our group was not successful in the original lottery in February, so our only hope was to get walk-in permits. The day before our hike there were a number of hikers also hoping to get walk-in permits. One of the rangers behind the counter asked each of the groups of people to pick a representative to draw a number. My sister picked number one, so we were all able to get the permits we wanted… there were still quite a few permits available so other groups were able to get their permits as well.

"The computer systems at all the FS offices will print out a permit, but that is a procedural error on the part of the issuer"

If I'm reading this right, they will actually give me a permit at the other place that steve mentioned. But technically they are not allowed too. But.....they will give it to me? :-)

Thanks for the info Rosabella. If they do a mini lottery, I'll just show up at 11am instead. Thanks.

several points of interest: 1) Yes the MR is in the Whitney Zone, and you can only get permits at Lone Pine; it was not like that several yrs ago, but is now. (NF trail was added to the Whitney DAY HIKE quota in Jan of 2008, I believe); 2) the other three ranger sites are good for getting permits without lines, but it is still computerized, and the guys at Mono Lake are "WAY slow, and UN-interested in moving faster" so sometimes they don't process them fast enough to get you your permit - can't keep up with 5 fast tellers at the LP site - believe me, I've done both ways, many times. and 3) at least last year, it was a lottery, no sense getting there early,,, and 4) little known secret, when the day hike permits for the "NEXT" day are gone, the OVERNIGHT permits for THE CURRENT DAY are usually still avail for another 10-15 mins, at least in my experience... so I just grab one of them, and then take off a day early with a bivy sack and hike a couple of miles....

More than likely not, unless you get a noob or someone not totally familiar with the system.

Hmmm, I never thought of getting a current day permit. I'll have to check with them on that too. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for the continuing info guys.

Steve, I see you are from Fresno. I'll be flying into and out of Fresno this trip. I'm going up to Yosemite first, it seems like its about 2.5 hours. I'll be parking at Olmsted Point for my hike and then on the way out, taking Tioga out to 395S down to Whitney. How long of a ride is it back to fresno from Whitney. I breifly checked on the map and it looks like the fastest way back to Fresno, is heading south and then cutting up (I forget the road names or numbers). Or should I head back up and through Yosemite?

Thanks again Steve. Taking 178, you think about 5 hours or so back to Fresno?