Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Driving Directions

I will be in Vegas April 16th for a week, and would like to do a day trip to Mt. Whitney. Could someone please give me the driving directions to Mt Whitney from vegas with road #'s. Thanks!

Mike Kelly

Have you read the information under Picking an airport? I tried to list the major routes. I assume that you do not mind travelling through Death Valley. Also, have you read the posts about Whitney Portal Road Damage and What can go wrong on Whitney?

Hi I do this drive more than I want to say, trick is getting out of Vegas and on the Road to Blue Diamond (160) head to Pahrump, go past the main part (North) of town ......do not take372/178... and turn left at Bell Vista the sign pointing to Death Valley, this will take you to Death Valley Junction turn right (127) go about 1000' turn left and head into the Park , this will be 190 and that will take you into a junction about 25 miles out of Lone Pine go straight and 136 will take you to Lone Pine (395). This drive takes about 3 1/2 hours watch for cows on the road and speed traps ,get gas before you leave Vegas and you will be good until you get to Lone Pine , bring water and plan to take photos also stop somewhere in the Valley and get out of the car to experience the quiet Thanks Doug

I’ve only done this twice so hopefully you’ll get a second opinion here.
Go south on Interstate 15 to west Route 160, “Blue Diamond Road” (to Pahrump). Follow to Pahrump and watch for Bell Vista Avenue, 2/3 through the town. Turn left (west) and stay on the road (it changes to Ash Meadows Road while Bell Vista continues off to the right). It should be a natural choice; I’ve never noticed that it stopped being Bell Vista.
This will take you to State Line Road. Turn left on State Line. This will take you to the tiny town of Death Valley Junction. At the T, go right for a very short jog then go west on Route 190. You stay on Route 190 all the way through Death Valley; past Zabriskie Point, Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells and Panamint Springs. It’s a big long looping drive and Death Valley is aptly named.
After Panamint Springs, it’s another fairly long drive to where Route 190 turns south around the remains of Owens Lake and Route 136 takes the north way around it. Take Route 136 north to Lone Pine, and look for the Whitney Portal Road in the middle of the town. Turn left and follow to the portal.
If you really intend this to be a day trip (returning to LV that same day), be prepared for a very long, very arduous day. Seriously.

Yep. Google Maps shows this is a 5 hour drive One way!

Don't forget the winery in Pahrump! Great white wine, the Symphony grape, which is a varietal developed at UC Davis. Yummi!

Oh wait, this was about climbing...

Thanks everyone for the help! I hear it's a very scenic ride up there, and being from the eastern part of the country, it will be a nice change of scenery.

Mike Kelly