The individual tags are handed out some years, and other years they are not. When I was at Whitney a few weeks ago, over the July 4th weekend, the rangers did not hand out tags for each person in the group, but I as hike leader carried the actual permit. Your group is not required to stay together on the trail, but as long as each person knows the name of the hike leader, and a rough idea of where he/she is on the trail, then your group will be O.K. The hike leader should know exactly how many people are in the group, and the names of each person. Whitney Mike