Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney Permit Notification

<font color=red><H3>Status Report</H3></font>I just got this from the Forest Service:

They are "done" processing the lottery requests, but checks and credit cards have not been processed, and letters have not been sent out.

This year, of the 4,958 applications accepted, 3,236 were successful. That works out to a 65% success rate.

Now that the main process is completed, they are focusing on catching up on handling the results: charging credit cards, cashing checks, and sending out letters (Thousands of letters will be sent out this week). It will take several weeks yet to complete the process.

Please understand that it is too late to make changes to your reservation at this time. They ask that you wait until April to contact them if you feel there is an error in your reservation.

Hopefully my permit is in the batch "of thousands." I did a overnight Grand Canyon (down South Kaibab and up Bright Angel) hike Sunday/Monday as a tune-up. got to go now and take a few more Ibuprofen...

For credit card users:

Have you checked your "temporary authorizations"? Temporary authorizations are claims submitted by merchants but not posted to your balance until it is completed. For example if you stay several days at a hotel, the hotel will enter a temporary charge immediately then finalize it when you check out.

In fact that's all I have on my credit card (and it's still "temporary," two days later). I assume the staff entered the claim and will make it permanent when they catch up to actually mailing out the notice.

My temp reads "USDA Inyo Visitor SO" for the correct amount; $45 for three people.

I hope I haven't jumped the gun.

They most likely just want to weed out any bad credit cards or wrong numbers as they approve them, to save work later; I doubt that you have anything to worry about.

Watching this thread over some time, I've been musing at how wonderfully technology has enabled us to find things to worry about. (an observation, not a criticism, since I'm doing the same thing 8^).

Ten or more years ago we'd have just mailed it in and hoped, but since we'd have no way of knowing until April 1, probably just put it out of our minds in the meantime and relaxed.

Now, we can check every day, not only on the board to see who's gotten theirs when we haven't, but access our CC or checking accounts daily looking for that charge we hope is there. And then of course worry when it's not. Technology is great...isn't it...? 8^)

While I've never done Mt. Whitney and am looking forward to it, realistically if I don't get 'in' there are dozens of hikes I've been wanting to do that are probably more scenic (spoken from non-experience on Whitney of course), you don't need to pay or use a lottery, and you don't need to crap in a bag and carry it around with you 8^). Plus, as others have pointed out, getting in by just showing up for cancellations stands a good chance of succeeding.

But still, there I am, hoping they don't restrict my checking account because someone is logging in every day just to look around...

Oh well, we'll all find out soon, March is disappearing quickly. Good luck to everyone.

Meckers, thanks for the ID on the hit...

And WhitRat, sorry to burst your little bubble, BUT I'M IN, BABY! YEEEEEEHHHAAAAWWW! Now the fun REALLY begins for training for this new adventure! I'm already writing the time-off request for August.

Can't wait to see y'all on the mountain!

-L

HikerLaura, stoked you got your noticed but knew all along you would. At least that's what I was trying to say in my panic induced brain frazzled condition. How could they POSSIBLY freeze you out? And so, I found hope to go on incessantly checking my bank page. All because I knew that the only certainty was that you would eventually get in and that the process would continue at least until then. Have a great trip!!

We're showing the hit on our debit card this AM-$45 for our overnite in early August ! We mailed our application with a few
extra days to spare and gave only one alternate set of dates so we're more than pleased ! Good Luck to all.

Looks like I should have gone for the day hike after all. I see there's an article about the process of summiting Whitney in our local paper (McClatchey), one of a series on Whitney it says. Great, what we need is more people wanting to do it, when there isn't even room for all of us now.8^(

Anyway, the article mentioned that 90% of day hike lottery requests get approved, but only 57% of overnights. Had I known that, and not being much of a gambler, I'd have probably stuck with my original idea of doing it in a day. My son wanted an overnighter, and it sounded good to me, so we tried that instead. Being as how March is nearly over, the process has been complete for several days, and I don't see the check as having been cashed, I think it's pretty safe to assume that it didn't get drawn in time...even though I included the entire first 3 weeks of July, and sent it around Feb. 2.

Anyway, there's a series of articles coming on the authors' experience of preparing for and summiting Mt. Whitney, in McClatchey papers, if interested. Or, if you wonder why next year it's even harder to get a lottery spot...

WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!! The pending charge showed up on the CC this AM! I'm so happy!!!

got rejection notice in the mail today
I have applied and been rejected 4 straight years.
I put in for mid week from june to sept

oh well

Johnny, at the risk of repeating myself, not to worry!!

A few years ago towards the end of the hiking season (2nd week and middle of September when it really starts getting cold, but pretty nice in the daytime) I would call the Ranger Station and instantly get a no-show permit. This was around the time gasoline started creeping to $3.00 a gallon and a LOT of people bailed and abandoned their permits. Gas has been in the $4.00 range at Lee Vining and Bridgeport. Will no doubt go there again this year. This could have an affect on some travelling to the area.

Since I live only a few hours away I was going once a week, not to summit so much as to just hike the trail. I was feeling realy guilty like I was keeping someone else from going. I asked the lady at the ranger station if it was OK for me to go so often? Was she keeping me on a special you're-hogging-the-permits list? She said, absolutely not, there are tons of available permits and to go as many times as I wanted. This was when I was buying them over the phone and they just wanted to recoup the profit of as many re-sold permits as possible. Now I just show up, get it for free.

Friends and I went to the Ranger Station just after 4th of July last year on a Friday (yet!) got overnight permits for 4 people for up to 5 nights even though we weren't going to stay that long. The friends had applied for same and got rejected. By showing up we got the permits anyway and saved $60.00 which got put back in the gas tank.

Mine finally came in the mail!!! Wow!

Whew, just got my confirmation letter in the mail. Guess next year ill know to be patient! Chose June 5th and 6th with a night at the portal on the 4th, Anyone from here can drop on by and share some dinner!!! See ya'll out there....

Note for johnny - read back through this thread and you'll read a lot of talk about getting walk up permits. There are ALWAYS no shows. I've obtained more permits by taking the place of a no show than I have through the lottery. This year, I picked 25 dates...all of which were during the week. There's always hope. Getting a permit ahead of time only guarantees you entry. Like bobcat says, you should be able to get a walk up permit by taking the place of a no show. My advice to you is to plan on being in Lone Pine mid to late September and trying during the week. Good luck!!!

Got mine yesterday.....Aug 23-25.

I got the letter before it hit my credit card!

I just got a hit on my CC. I applied on Feb.15 for a day hike in September. I already have my dates for the MR trip in August. I guess I better start working out.

I have edited my status report above -- I left out the fact that this year, there were 3,236 successful reservations out of the 4,958 applications that were accepted. So that works out to a 65% success rate.

Got my letter today (sent my application Feb 1). Dayhike July 6....

Our permit notification arrived this past weekend, so I know at least some of the letters are going out.

BINGO!
Got my notification for an overnight August 8 & 9!