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

Hello All,

I know this is last minute, but my group will be arriving in at Whitney tomorrow in order to hike on Sunday. We are looking for a place to camp at Whitney Portal, but missed the window for reserving a campsite. Does anybody know:
i) the chances of us being able to find an open site
ii) anyone that might have room for three extra people in their site for one night
iii) or other viable camping options for one night that facilitate an early (pre-dawn) start on Sunday?

Thanks for any help in advance!

Alternative if you think you need to be that high would be Horseshoe Meadows. The road t-bones the portal road a few miles out of Lone Pine. You can probably sleep in the car if the walk in's are full...or drag a pad and bag into the woods aways. Figure around an hour to get from there to Portal the next morning. Leave a little earlier and catch a breakfast in town. You won't loose any acclimatization benefit you would have garnered.

There is lower camping (5,000'+-) at Tuttle Creek just a mile or so up the HorseShoe Meadows road. Its about 30-40 minutes to the Portal.

Onion Valley is high, out of Independence. About 1.5+ hours from the Portal if you don't get picked up by CHP. The walk in is sometimes available if not a popular weekend (like this one). My fav parking place is a maybe road that ends up a 100 feet or so up above the eastern part of the parking lot.

You are still getting acclimated if you are coming up from sea level if you are stuck between 6,000 and 8,000' for the night.

The problem could be with showing up early in the morning at the Portal parking lot is finding a place to stick the car for the duration.

Lots of other car camping spots between Lone Pine and just beyond Independence (e.g., Tabosse Pass road).

Or wimp out and get a motel

The family campsites at Whitney Portal are only up around 8000 feet. As noted earlier, Horseshoe Meadow is higher up at 10,000 feet, but all the sites are "backpacker" sites. Onion Valley is also above Whitney Portal and has less demand for FCFS (as well as reserved) sites. See Whitney Portal Alternatives and Acclimation Plan.

Thanks for the information. Right now I think plan A is going to be to cross our fingers and hope to snag an FCFS site.

Thanks again!

I would be grateful if someone could answer another question re camping: We are beginning our hike on 9/22/08 and returning 9/25/08. If we stay in WP camp on 9/21 and are on-trail 9/22-9/25, can we leave our food in the bear food storage box over this period?

Also, if we choose the backpackers camp at trailhead, what are our options for food/cooler storage during during the hike?

I am a little confused. What do you mean by "WP Camp?" Does that mean that you have a one-night reservation at a family campsite for 9/21? If so, why would you "choose" a site in the backpacker campground.

Anyhow, as far as leaving food at the Portal, there are some food lockers near the trailhead that are not part of a campground, but they are often full of food and related items from people like you. You probably could find enough space to squeeze in a sack or two of food there, but there may not be enough room for a cooler. Does that answer your basic question?

VersatileFred, thank you for responding to my confusing question(s). By WP I meant Whitney Portal campground. We have no reservations anywhere yet. I am just checking out our options, since I have never camped above Alabama Hills.

Yes, you answered very clearly my question about food storage should we decide to camp at the backpackers camp. Thank you.

Yikes! I hadn't thought of the potential for not finding a parking spot at the WP for a day hike?! Does the parking lot really fill up? I have never had a problem the last few times I've been there, but, I don't recall how full it was and how many spots were left?

Yes, it does fill up on very busy days, and people begin to park on the road as overflow parking. Have seen it happen many times.

Are you allowed to park on the road as overflow parking?

Brent - I don't know what the official status of overflow parking is re: the road, so what I am relating is my own experience and observations.

The only "No Parking" sign I recall on the road is near the sharp turn, about 1/2 mile from the Portal - the road is "wavey" in this location. I do know that you should only park in the appropriate slots in the upper lots, and not get cute and try to wedge yourself in someplace. I attempted to do this a few years ago with a compact rental car when I was still living on the East Coast. A ranger spotted me and instructed me in no uncertain terms to move "or else". Keep in mind that big pickups, campers, Fish & Game stock trucks, etc, have to navigate those small lots, so there's a reason they're fussy.

I've never personally observed anyone whose vehicle was ticketed, towed or otherwise hassled about parking on the road. It's usually done on the downhill side.

If you hike Meysan Lakes during the off-season, the gate to the campground/parking area is closed, so the only place you can park, nearby, is on the road.

I've also been told at some point Inyo County has jurisdiction on the road, but I have no idea where the USFS/Inyo County "line" is. This is a bit tangential to your question, but this came up in conversation about where it was OK to sleep in your vehicle and where it was not.

Hope this helps. If I've misspoken, hopefully someone will point this out.

Just don't ask about filtering water ...

From the campground area on up to the store, I don't think there is any parking on the uphill/north side of the road. At the Portal, don't overnight park in the day use area around the pond. The only parking on pavement is where there are white painted stripes. On the downhill/south side where there is room to pull off the road, there is parking where not prohibited by signs. I recall Doug Sr suggesting that multi-night parkers should try to park lower to allow to spare the multitude of short-timers who come and go to have a shorter walk. They should get their chance for pancakes, burgers and beer, too.

Before the lowest hiker parking lot at the Portal was built, I went up one Saturday evening to catch some sleep before a 2am start. Overnight parkers had parked in a solid lane on the uphill/north side of the road, narrowing it to the point where two mid-sized cars could barely pass. A police car parked on the road all night with it's pretty lights on as a team of three tow trucks ran up and down the hill together towing away the offending vehicles. Since then there have been better signage and stripeage on the Portal road.

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

Dale - to put this in some content for Brent and others - about when did this towing occur? I know the lower lot has been there for many years.

I've done at least one Whitney dayhike each year for the last 32 years and I'd put that night near the middle of them. (It didn't make it into my trail notes.) The real thing to take away is that if you create a problem, they will tow. The situation that night was that as soon as one person created the problem, others copied and made the problem worse, so there may be interest in keeping problems from growing.

Dale B. Dalrymple

Thanks Kevin R and Dale. I appreciate the head's up.

Brent