Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney Portal campground

We received the email from the Whitney Portal campground stating it’s going to be closed. We have permits to climb Whitney. Will the trails close too? Does anyone knows if the store will be closed as well? What to do?

“Important Update for WHITNEY PORTAL
Effective 8/31/21 this facility will be closed by order of the US Forest Service due to fire danger. Please check the recreation.gov website for updates. We are sorry for the inconvenience. All pending reservations will be cancelled and refunds will be issued.”

Any information would be greater appreciated

I just saw this:

Inyo National Forest Closure

Thank you for this. What a bummer to so many. Now what to do with that time we took off? Any suggestions?

Just got a refund for 8 Sept for the Main Trail day hike. Ugh!!

September 3rd day hike refunded. Looks like I will be stuck on 199 for a little while longer.

Ok drill two ,Region 5 National Forest Closed 11 59 Aug 31 until reopened.
We are open today till 6 PM then the shut down starts for us .

If I am not mistaken...this will close down Baldy too...

How about a group thing over in DV...The Rockwell Five...
Rogers...Bennett...Telescope...Bennett...Rogers...


Closing for the season?????

You are not mistaken. The Climb for Heroes has been postponed till November.

I get the need to temporarily close the forests due to fire danger. At least the Forest Service could answer their phone. There are probably a few hundred people holding Whitney permits that may have questions. I've been calling for a few days now and no one answers the phone. Fine. Then put a recording on the line and say, "we are closed and not answering phones." Is that so hard? Just because you close doesn't mean basic customer service should go right down the toilet.

I get the need to temporarily close the forests due to fire danger. At least the Forest Service could answer their phone. There are probably a few hundred people holding Whitney permits that may have questions. I've been calling for a few days now and no one answers the phone. Fine. Then put a recording on the line and say, "we are closed and not answering phones." Is that so hard? Just because you close doesn't mean basic customer service should go right down the toilet.

On going the past 2 seasons ,either couldn't hire staff or endless calls and emails,people not reading details on the reservation,how to simply follow the few steps print the permit . So not sure what your questions are but for now the California USFS region 5 is closed.If I recall reading the closure order they had a number to call .

i had the same complaints about failure to answer the phone and was ready to argue when I went in person to pick up my Cottonwood Pass permit two weeks ago. Turns out the phone does not ring at the cash register desk, but at the ranger's permit issuing desk. They had only two folks issuing permits - and they were swamped. I'm not satisfied at all with the situation, but now have a better understanding of their issues and priorities.