Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney Portal Camp Site

Within the descripiton of Whitney Portal Camp Site #19, is an alert that states "THIS SITE IS NOT LEVEL". Does this warning pertain to the whole site or just to the RV portion? We're pitiching at least one and possibly two tents and are hoping that the area for this is level. Thank You

I camped there. My car was elevated (on a different level) a little bit from where my tent was. My tent was on very level ground and the car was on level ground. Ground had a nice sandy base. Had to toss a few small stones that got kicked into the tent area some how. Also had a nice picnic table and of course your own good sized bear box. Enough for two large back packs, cooler, and bags of groceries. Might be a tight fit for two tents depending on size. I found it quite pleasant. Had 2 bear cubs and a momma run through between my tent and the next site over. Lots of kids and dads yelling sent the momma one way and the cubs the other way. I presume mom and cubs met up fairly quickly because the excitement died down in about 15 minutes. Parking space was fine for my jeep. Might be a bit tight for an RV depending on the size of the RV. Seems to me sites 15, 17, and 19 are all quite nice and reasonably quiet at night.

Remember, you can use your Annual National Parks Pass to get 9.50 off of the cost of reserving the camp site. Leaves you that much more to spend at the Whitney Portal Store

Thanks for the info.
I just made reservations for #15.
I liked the location on the map but was a little worried about the not level warning.
I had already made the reservations before reading this because I have no problem sleeping on unlevel ground.
Was just worried what they meant by not level.

Congrats. #15 is definitely a nice site. Plenty of space between adjacent sites particularly with the stream right next to it. Spot for tent is flat. Car spot is just elevated up a little ways. Enjoy!

We have a reservation for Whitney Portal Camp Site 42. I have never camped there so any information about this site would be appreciated. We have 6 people, it says one tent on the reservation, do they allow you to put more tents up than one? Is there room for another tent on this site?

Thanks in advance for help.

sparty,

I haven't camped on that site, but I remember it being a little tight. Usually the tent pads are big enough to get two tents in there. And as far as I know, they don't care if you put up more than one tent. It will be cozy for 6 people but you should fit just fine.

Be sure to use those bear boxes.

Sites 42, 43 and 44 are heavy with bear traffic due to their proximity to the brush and trees.

Also, parking is scarce down there.

Know your neighbors. They might let you set up a tent on their site.

Thank you for the info. We will try to not entice the bears into the campsites any further. Based on some posts, they appear to be pretty bold already.

Thanks again.

I've camped in 43, definitely bear country. They come up out of the creek about dusk and are not scared of anything. We banged on pots and pans and they, two of them just looked at us like "yea, what else do you have to offer?" Another thing to watch out for are squirrels dropping those big green pine cones. Those things are heavy, if someone were to get hit by one they would probably die. One hit my tent two years ago and ripped a big hole in the side. They are brutal, next time I'm bringing my hardhat! http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/images/icons/default/grin.gif

Sparty:

#42 is a nicely shaded site, albeit a little small when compared to its neighboring #43 around the loop-corner and the enormous #44. It has a bear box, a fire pit w/ grate, and last time I was there it also had a picnic table. Heed Danu/+@ti2d's advice above, as that lower loop sees a lot of bear action as they cruise back down from the Portal into the areas below the campsites. #42 is tucked up next to an earthen slope with shrubs, above which is the road to the Portal Store. There is indeed one good-sized pad that can handle a fairly large tent (that's probably why they list it as a 6-person site), and another smaller area where a 2-man tent might be able to go. There is absolutely no room for more than one vehicle, but if you have a second vehicle you can park it up on the road -- and, speaking of which, I've seen campers there use the parking "pad" area in #42 as a place where they set up an extra small tent or two, despite it not being exactly level, with the vehicle(s) parked up on the road above. The water spigot is about 25 yards in one direction, and a second spigot and pit toilet is about 25 yards in the other direction. #42's a nice, quiet site, and I'll be camping there in early July. Enjoy.

BruinDave