Awesome, thanks! We'll be camping either at the Portal (backpacker campground) or Horseshoe Meadows Thursday night I think, so it should be fairly easy to make it to the Ranger Station in the morning to see about a same day overnight permit or a Saturday dayhike (if dayhike is the only thing we can get, that's no big deal, we'll just leave from the Portal). I'm nervous about the weather, as we will not be bringing mountaineering gear. If we have to turn back or can't go at all because of weather, we'll just do Bryce/Zion instead (moving cross country). Not planning on taking any serious risks up there, given that neither of us have ever been above 13k.
I'm debating between trail runners and slightly more robust Columbia boots. Any recommendations on that for early October? Are there still streams you actually need to walk through to cross, and if so, would you recommend wearing gaiters? Wet feet on Whitney in October does NOT sound appealing (more like a recipe for disaster).
