Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board hiking whitney trail to summit

Hi everyone who has traveled the whitney trail to the summit in the last seven days. message board has a alot of commits about condition on trail, bears in parking lot, tp on trail, unused waste bags, attitude of park rangers; almost sounds like going to the shopping mall on the weekend. what i don't understand is if your going to carry bags for relief and leave your bags on the trail why even take the bags in the first place. it would be healther to go off trail dig a 12' hole and bury your waste. I'am also surprised that the persons who leave their waste behind never respond to the message board, someone has to be the sentinel of the trail thanks to the rangers or forest personnal. how was the hike, was there water, a small stream just below trail camp and also was there water around switchback 24/25

I went up twice in July, 1st and 31st. The trail was great. There was some TP and a few spots that I wouldn't set my pack down but with 100+ people a day going up the trail I'd say it is still pretty nice. There was still water on the lower switchbacks, but we filtered at the inlet to the pond at trail camp. Keep in mind that you aren't going to Whitney for a wilderness experience, it's more like riding a double century or doing a marathon, there are a lot of folks around but everyone has the same (or similar) goal and most people I came into contact with were nice enough. As for the Wag Bag, I don't think they are so bad if used properly. I prefer a wag bag to a nasty toilet (seen Trainspotting?), just be prepared for a non-wilderness experience. Have a good trip!!!

Why leave the bags? Quite simplely, they are heavy if you used them a few days and they stink if do not come prepared with a couple of extra ziplocks to mitigate the smell.