Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Camp site for Backpackers at Whitney Portal?

Can anyone tell me if there is still a walk-in camp site at Whitney Portal for people planning on backpacking the main Mt Whitney trail? Also, can anyone recommend a campground that is easy to access from 395 to start acclimating for hiking Mt. Whitney? Preferrably no reservations required.

Yes. See Inyo NF Campsites. Also note that not all of the sites are reservable in each campground (so don't assume that you have to show up at the campgrounds with a reservation).

Thanks for the info, VersatileFred. Can anyone recommend how early in the day I should plan to arrive for one of the walk-in sites at the Whitney Portal trailhead? We hope to camp there on Saturday night (Sep 8th).

Thanks in advance.

See the posts in WP Campground for more ideas.

Lakerjennie
There is an excellent campground out of Lone Pine called Horseshoe Meadows...the site is at 10k feet so it will help you to aclimatize to the elevation. Head out of Lone Pine on the Whitney Portal road for about 3-5 miles...the road appears on the left and is called Horseshoe Meadows Road...take this roughly 25 miles to the end of the road...park and find a camp site, no reservations required and the fee is $6...this is also a good place to do a warm up hike...2 good hikes for warm up...Cottonwood Lakes, roughly 11.2 miles round trip and Cottonwood Pass, roughly 8 miles RT.