Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Status of Doug's Hotel in Lone Pine

Doug or anyone,

What's the status of the hotel in Lone Pine? Is it open, if not is there a planned opening date, etc...?

I'm not having any luck finding a place to stay in Lone Pine during early Oct.


hiiker

We had the same problem 3 years ago climbing Oct. 7. Turned out that the world famous Lone Pine International Film Festival was being held that week. We ended up having to drive to Bishop to find a hotel.

I guess I'll be staying in Bishop or camping somewhere. Thanks for the info.


hiiker

Hiiker:

I can't believe the town would be that busy into October. School starts today in many places and after Labor Day things really die down. I'm hoping to secure a 1-day permit middle of the week after Labor Day.

If it's just you and you're not staying long, just sleep at the portal in your car. The motel owners in Lone Pine got quite greedy and a single person one night room is probably pushing $100 now, plus the noise of teenagers loitering on the streets and traffic in town is insufferable. The trucks leaving the Eastern Sierra cafe at 2AM were so loud they kept setting off my car alarm!

We've stayed at the Dow Villa Historic Motel two years in a row now. $45 for a room with a bathroom down the hall. I can't really complain about paying that. There were 3 of us, so we grabbed a roll-away from the hallway.

3 showers at the portal and a camping spot would cost about the same.

I don't know what it's like there in October though, sorry

Lone Pine Film Festival - Oct 5-7 2007
http://www.lonepinefilmfestival.org/index.asp

thruhiker,

Thanks for the link, that explains it all.

I called the people at the Film Festival today and they said people book rooms for this event a couple years in advance. I asked the lady I spoke to about Doug's hotel and she said they were hoping it would be open for this year's event but apparently it won't.

When I came thru Lone Pine in late Feb. on my way back from Mammoth it appeared, at least from the outside that Doug's place was nearing completion. I would guess running the portal store keeps him pretty busy. Once it closes in Oct. I'm sure we'll hear it's status.

Thanks to all who replied to my original post.


hiiker

I know during the film festival people were coming up here to Big Pine to find rooms, because Lone Pine was booked up.

For those still looking for a room, Independence is not that far a jog up the road from Lone Pine, and is a beautiful place to spend a day. There are several motel options there including the historic and funky Winnedumah Hotel, the neat and clean Mt. Williamson cabins, and the retro Ray's Den. The museum alone is worth the trip up. There is a small public library with free Internet access computer; the chamber also has one, when it is open. Indy is a great jumping off point if you want to hike up to Onion Valley and the pass.

Thanks for the info about Independence. I hadn't paid much attention since it's a tiny dot on the map. I looked a while back when we were considering going on the moosageboard group hike 9/15, but lodging in Lone Pine is still at high summer prices...way too high for what you get ($130-160 for a motel?).

I don't know if prices in Independence are any better (no online reservations), but the places don't look pretentious, so maybe that will be a good alternative for when we decide to head up there.

Gary,
I was able to book a room at the Best Western last week for Friday 9/14 and was able to get a King bed for $102. They had other rooms available for as low as $71 a night. We wanted to get a room the night before the mooseage board hike so we didn't have to get up at 0'Dark-Thirty to drive up from Long Beach.
Good luck on finding a room.
Adam

Thanks Adam, every time I've looked at the Best Western for any dates it says "full" so I never got as far as seeing the rates. Wonder why the Comfort Inn is so high, if that's the case? The Dow Villa isn't so bad either, in the 90's, but I couldn't check availability online. If we do the mooseage board hike, I'm figuring on a room the night after too, since the Whitney area is new to me, and a room might feel pretty good afterward, not to mention getting to explore around a bit.
Thanks for the info...might see you on the hike if it works out.

Gary