Mt. Whitney Trail

Mt. Whitney from Lone Pine, California

   Mt. Whitney Trail is the easiest way to reach the top of Mt. Whitney.  Majority of people are going through this trail.  To enter Mt. Whitney area, people needs to get permission.

How to get permission:

Mt. Whitney Lottery
   People who wants to climb Mt. Whitney needs to plan well in advance.  It is better to file an application  for Mt.Whitney Lottery  in February through mid March.  This might be maximize a chance to get the permission.  The application can be filed through on-line.  In the application, people can put multiple dates.  The result will be notified through E-mail in the end of March or early April.

After Mt. Whitney Lottery
   Once Mt. Whitney Lottery is closed.  People can reserved left over dates through on-line or phone.  Usually, it can start on April 1st.   Then people who wins the Mt.Whitney lottery needs to confirm its reservation.  If the people have not confirmed by the deadline, the reservation won't be valid and back to the pool.   After May 1st, those space will be available on-line as well (This is a schedule in 2013).

  Also, people can go to the visitor center in Lone Pine to check if there is any available space or not.  If there is any available space, it might have a chance to get it.

Pick-up the permission
   To pick up the permission, people need to go to the visitor center in Lone Pine.  People can pick it up a week in advance.  But if the schedule is very tight, people can picked up from a night box.  People need to make a phone call to the visitor center for this arrangement before.  The night box is located close to the entrance of the visitor center.  This is a good option, people who just arrive that area and start climbing right away.  Otherwise, people need to wait for business hour to pick up the permission.

Trail

Mt. Whitney trail is the most popular trail to climb Mt. Whitney.  Many people are doing a day trip to Mt. Whitney.  Some people really start almost mid night.  The trail is very long.

I personally, have never tried a day  trip.  I think I can do it.  For my first try in 2011, I started around 6AM with camping stuff.  I reached "Trail Camp" around 10am with heavy camping stuff and then reached the summit around 2pm.  I could be back to Trail Camp before 5pm.   I could be back to the trail head before Sun set.  But I think camping on the trail is very good idea.   Since just reaching summit is not only purpose of the  trip, but also enjoy a night on the trail.  People can see different view time by time, especially night time is really nice view on the sky.  There are so many starts on the sky.

If you have a chance, I really recommend to have camping on a trail.

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