Salty, Inyo's Trailcrest Exit permit quota is the ONE and only place I know of where you are required to have a permit to exit the wilderness ...at a certain point.
Until this thread, the rules had always been that anyone entering from another Inyo National Forest trailhead was required to also obtain the Trailhead exit permit (quota is 25 per day). And the rules had also been that anyone starting from Yosemite or Sequoia N.P. (anywhere outside of the Inyo N.F. jurisdiction) did NOT need the exit permit.
It sounds like the rules are different for commercial operators. But it seems like a pretty fine line to me that private groups can exit free and clear, but the same size group, because they are paying someone, cannot.
On the other hand, it also may be true that commercial operators are not permitted to take groups UP the main Mt Whitney trail either (I'm not sure.)
