Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Portal campground to trail head: How Far?

If we start from the car campground how much distance will this add to our summit hike?

Some parking spots are across the road from the Trail Head, less than 100 feet. If you park in the lowest parking lot, it might take you 500 feet of walking. Happy hiking!

Oops, if your talking about the family campground, then DHMeieio's description is the one to use. Why not use the hiker's campground? There are always spaces this time of the year, but it is only good for overnight. But again, only 100 to 500 feet from the TH.

While we were camping at Whitney portal campground this summer we walked up to the portal store and trailhead multiple times. It takes about 15-20 minutes and is probably about 300-400 feet in elevation gain. Certainly you would not want to add that to your Whitney hike. You can leave your tent up and drive up to the trail head. That is what we did.

Thanks for the replies everyone. We are staying in a small motorhome otherwise we would go ahead and camp at the backpackers walk in, I think we will plan on parking in the overflow lot the morning of our hike, would rather not add the 2 miles.

I'm going up the Whitney Trail out of the Portal on September 29. This is my first hike of Mt. Whitney. So, if I understand this thread correctly, hikers have a choice of camping at the Portal or by the trailhead, with the trailhead campground cutting the hike down by two miles (roundtrip). And, I presume, one needs an overnight permit for either campground?

Uncle Jam, from what I understand sites cannot be reserved at the hike-in campgound at the trailhead. One night stay limit there. The car campground 1 mile down the road takes reservations and is booked for next weekend, some sites are non-reservable but you take your chances on getting one. We are going to camp at Mammoth untill Sunday night, then stay at the car camp, then drive to the trailhead parking early monday. Maybe we'll see you up there!

Uncle Jam,
I don't believe they enforce the one night stay rule at the walk-in campground unless it's full. I have stayed there up to three nights ,and have never seen it filled. Even on summer weekends there always seems to be at least 2 or 3 spaces available. At the end of Sept. you shouldn't have any problem staying in the walk-in, which is first come first served. Also, don't worry about the term "walk-in". You can often get a parking space 25 feet from your tent. Jim

The regular Whitney Portal campground is listed as 1/2 miles from the trailhead on the web site. However is steep walking between there and the trailhead and the trail is long enough without any more. Stay were you want and drive to the trailhead. You will be glad you did. When you get back to the trailhead you will be glad your car is there.

Last time I parked at the trailhead there was a small truck with camper parked next to where we parked. They spent the night since they mentioned hearing us drive in and leave at 3:30 am. There were still there we we got back 15 hours later.