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

I am planning on camping in the area on Saturday 6/13 before we attempt our climb on Sunday. I was planning on reserving a site at the portal campground, but didn't reserve one in time. What are the chances a spot will be available at the walk-in campground? I was thinking Horseshoe Meadows, but would like to stay closer to the portal and spend some time Saturday taking photos in the Alabama Hills. I don't think acclimatization will be too much of an issue, because we plan on taking two nights on the way up. Any other suggestions on a good spot to camp?

I'm also camping Saturday night and beginning my climb on Sunday. You may be in luck...I have a space at the Whitney portal campground already. I noticed it said that the max number of people is 6 for my site. Right now it's just me and a friend. Does anyone know if I would be allowed to let other people camp on my site? I made the reservation a long time ago and I vaguely remember specifying how many people would be at my site. I don't recall if there's an extra charge or anything.

Thanks for the help.

In the past, only part of the campsites @ the Whitney Portal campground are on the reserve system. The others are available on a "first-come, first-served" basis. If you arrive early in the day, you will very likely find one of those sites available.

(About 18 family sites are first come first served. Note: Just because they are FCFS does not mean that all sites will be available on any given day. Most people stay at least two nights).