Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Need day hike permit for Mt. Whitney Aug 31

Hi all, This is my first post so please be kind if I screwed up royally! I live in San Jose, CA and have reasonable hiking experience including Half Dome and Clouds Rest in Yosemite, Grand Canyon in AZ, Himalayas in India etc. I am hoping to try Mt. Whitney on Sun, Aug 31 as a day hike - yes a ~month from now. BUT (a BIIIIG but) I do not have a permit. I am hoping that someone will cancel a day hike permit and I will get in. Cancellations are (apparently) not uncommon but, per the ranger station, 100% of the permits were used this last weekend. A 850+ mile round trip drive just to check if I can get in is a bit much for me. Should I just give up now and plan somethign else? Better yet - anyone HAVE A permit for that day and NOT planning to go? (well..you know, there is nothing wrong with dreaming!). Anyway, suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Regards, Shubho

You should have a good chance of getting a day hike permit if you show up at the right time. As noted in Unused permits, there are still only a few dates when all the cancellations and no-shows were used. The demand for day hike permits increased slightly in 2008 because day hikes up the North Fork/MR are now included in the daily quotas. It is hard to predict how the North Fork hiker/climbers will affect the Labor Day quotas.

As for your note about last weekend, you did not say which days were included in the 100% figure. If your requirements are that firm, try calling the Wilderness Permit Office for cancellations (see Step 5 in the Wilderness Permit Options). You still can hike up to Lone Pine Lake (or climb up to Lower Boy Scout Lake)without a permit.

I walked in on 7/18 at 10:45 AM and walked away with a bp permit.

I would suggest if you go have an alternate hike lined up. The area is loaded with great destinations like Mt. Langley or Lone Pine Peak.

I just noticed that people are posting about unused permits. So, I decided to change the subject line and repost a more pointed question.

I am looking for anyone who might not be using a day hike permit for Mt. Whitney on Sun Aug 31.

I have been informed by a very knowledgable source that the chances of finding an unused permit on Labot Day Weekend is between "0 and minus 50%"!! Oh well...I am an optimist.

Thanks again to all who replied to my original post.
Regards,
Shubho

> I have been informed by a very knowledgable source that the chances of finding an unused permit
> on Labor Day Weekend is between "0 and minus 50%"!! Oh well...I am an optimist.

No, your chances are not that bad. Look at last year's permits for Labor Day weekend, Sept 1-3. There was 1 unused on Saturday, 12 on Sunday, and 8 on Monday. (And who IS your "a very knowledgable source"?)

A friend took a group up last Friday, and on Thursday, she was in line to pick up four additional day hike permits. On that day, it was quite unusual, and there was a big line of people. What they do is put numbers in a hat, and each group pulls a number, and they hand out the available permits based on the number drawn. --it is a mini-lottery. My friend was fortunate to get a low number, so her group got their additional permits.

Confession: I am his "knowledgeable" source ... but I advised him before I had studied up on all the facts y'all have amassed here (Gods be Praised!).

But in my defense, I did advise him to come here if he wanted a more authoritative source. Wrote about it on my blog, and had to keep correcting my info till I got it all right. This site was duly credited.

Thanks you all.

I really can't expect anymore help than I am already getting. Honestly, I was wondering if anyone will even bother to respond. But (like Tom sez) Gods be Praised! I have this strange feeling that I am going to make it - just by sheer force of will, desire and enthusiasm.

Will keep you posted.
Shubho