Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Drive time from the Bay Area/Permit check-in?

Two questions:

Do all members of the party need to be present at the Lone Pine Ranger station when the group leader checks in the day before entering the Whitney Zone? Or can the group leader just show up and collect the permit for the whole group?

Second, how long should one allocate for driving from the Bay Area to Lone Pine? Yahoo! Maps says 9 hours 13 minutes, but I doubt their accuracy for long distances and mountain passes.

Thanks!

Hikertom

The group leader or alternate leader(s) can pick up the permit.

From the bay area - It really depends on what time you leave. Leaving east bay around 1pm will help you beat traffic along the Altamont pass and if you take route 120 (Tioga Pass) you should be in Lone Pine around 8pm.

follow up question about permits - on our second day in the zone, one of my group will remain at camp (Outpost) while other three head for summit. Will there be an issue or problem with the person in camp not having permit? or is it possible/advisable to let rangers know this when picking up the permit?

When you pick up the permit, they'll give you a separate tag for each person in the party, to be attached to each individual's pack. So your left-behind party member will still have his "license" to be on the mountain.

It depends on where in the Bay Area you are, but barring horrible traffic going out or a horrible wait at the Yosemite entrance station if you go up Tioga Road, you should be able to get to Lone Pine within about 7 hours driving time. This does not include stopping time. If you are coming from the East Bay, go over Tioga Road, have no wait at the entrance station, and drive at least 5 MPH above the speed limit the whole way, you will do it in less than 7 hours driving time, but I wouldn't count on it.

If you are looking for the most consistent route, look at the post on taking Route 58 through Tehachapi on <A href="http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003270">quickest route from Bay Area</A>. It is a few more miles that Route 120, but you have mostly four-lane freeway and highway and the two-lane stretches are straight (no winding roads).

Thanks for the input. I'm comming from the Peninsula. It looks like 120 is my best bet. Tehachapi seem rather out of the way. I've got a Parks pass, so the entrance fee to Yosemite isn't an issue. I'm leaving mid-week, so hopefully traffic won't be much of an issue.

I have made many trips from the Bay Area to the Lone Pine area and agree with VersatileFred that Route 58 through Tehachapi is the fastest - it does look a lot longer and out of the way, but travel through the mountains is slow and can take hours longer - jp