May or May not ?

Each day we are getting updates from the County ,State and Agencies , BLM, FS,Dept of Water and Power ( closing roads to climbing areas) NPS about Death Valley and West side closures.
Many are general public information and have lacked detail what is closed in the local area ,This week the Press Releases are focused on detail, Alabama Hills Closed, PCT closed.

If one has a permit for May and need to travel from outside Inyo County ,you may have a problem with non essential travel State wide restriction now in place " Californians can walk, run ,hike and bike in their local neighborhoods".

Inyo and Mono Counties have limited Medical Services and have requested people Please Stay Away until... All Campgrounds are closed ,or should be soon, Parking lots are closed , day use areas closed , picnic areas closed FS, BLM, County, and please check the NPS sites for closures. Visitor Centers Closed where you would pick up your permit.
Besides that we have had several late season storms and the upper elevations will repeat what we had last season, Trail covered till mid June at least. So Add to the closure and current conditions , Don't spend a lot of money on gear or travel until we get some possitive direction when things will open. Think about the rescues last season, If injuried where will you go? Hospital maybe overloaded and S&R might not respond due to the projected overload the next few months.

Hey hate to pass on the news but from what I see May is a wash , half of June is the same and I would expect Rec.gov putting out a statement soon , at least for the 15 people permit limit, no campgrounds and Roads closed to the Portal .

Good morning Doug (or as good as possible these days). One correction: l would love to hike Mt Wilson or Icehouse Canyon today but the local mountain trails in LA County are closed.

Thanks Burt I see closures in local areas as people go out to popular areas, then become over crowded and closed.
I found out today that on the Whitney Trail the Park closed so the your trip will end at Trailcrest and the Notch.

June not looking good . Will wait for updates. But please if you have permits for May or June DON'T buy gear , make reservations , plan travel,

Wait for several more weeks at least .

Fishing opener for Inyo , Mono and Alpine moved forward to June 1 this year. Still no update on Rec. Gov about permits and the State order is still May 15 for restricted travel stay home order, Road is closed to the Portal , same all campgrounds closed , day use areas, bathrooms remain closed. Press release from the FS is to follow State and local restrictions . Look for notices on Rec. Gov site for permit details in the next few days , By the end of this week you should start to see current closures.

I like to suggest the program of AirMedCare 877 861 4264 this is a flight insurance , most if not all the injuries in our area are flown out , this can be very expensive , Doug Jr $20,000, settled for around $6,000 one of our team was $ 65,000 (luck was it was covered by thier policy). The cost of the policy is about $75.00 a year and covers the family. Please do some research , find out if your insurance will cover flights and transporation charges. Note if you are flown off the Mountain that is a not charged to you , but often aircraft is not available on a short notice or not at all . Like all insurance only needed when you need it?

Update Please see the Mammoth Times notice for a special meeting April 22 , 1 PM Mammoth City Council . Follow the links and Exhibit "E" covers the Whitney Area , April 14, to June 30 Forest order 05-04-50-20-02, Rec . gov should also have details soon. Thanks

(Funny how the very last things to get updated about forest orders are the actual Forest Service websites...)

I found the elusive document. I will let others hunt and peck and continue to "guess" when the writing was on the wall over a week ago.

How many times do you have to do Pumpkin Hill to equate a North Fork experience?

Two days ago I got a note from recreation.gov that my campground reservation for 5/14 was cancelled and they were refunding the $. BTW, Doug's suggestion about AirMedCare is a pretty good idea. My wife and I maintain that insurance up here in the Bishop (Aspendell) area since we know a bad condition will result in a flight to the Reno area in all likelihood. I had a similar situation to Doug Jr a number of years ago. It can be quite costly even after negotiating a lower price.

Jeff I have a route about 5 miles no people I link the steep DG sections and gain about 1200' and steep DG on the downside about like the chute. I see people on the far side of Pumpkin rock some days but I take one of the old MC trails thats overgrown. Waiting for the snakeie that rattles. Doug and his buddies would go out and find them all the time don't know how they made it . Snakes or Kids.

There's a ridge trail over here with some "exposure" on each side, and I try to pretend I'm heading up to Candlelight. Yep, very helpful to have those "secret" trails up the sleeve---it's the only thing keeping my sanity, especially with the 90# puppy. The gopher snakes are coming out, but haven't seen any shaky snakies in a few months. One of the greatest held myths is that they hibernate in SoCal. No, they just slow down and get a little more particular about when they come out. Both times I was struck at (trail running, and one made contact) were in winter. Thankfully, I was born without the gene that impels me to try to catch them barehanded...

Update today for the Inyo National Forest , about like the last one closed until June 30, Go directly to INYO NATIONAL FOREST site and read in detail . Thanks

Update of the last update , again only change from the last USFS press release is Wilderness Permit details and the phone in for trails in the INYO. WHITNEY PERMITS still on hold. Read the press release on the INYO NF Home page.