Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion 2012 Whitney Lottery information

> Suggestions on permit for Mountaineers Route? Is it in the Lottery or not?

It's both:

If you day hike the MR, you need a "DAY USE of Mt. Whitney Zone" permit, the same as the Main Trail. Some places on the website they add "All Routes" to its title. Enter the lottery to get one of those permits.

Or, if you are backpacking -- spending one or more nights -- then it is NOT in the lottery. You start with the Inyo National Forest - Wilderness Permits link, select the "North Fork of Lone Pine Creek - JM34" as the Trail. When you do that, you have to decide: overnight/cross country, and Visiting/Exiting-(or none)-Mt. Whitney (See explanation of those choices here)

For the overnight MR, the quota is 4 walk-in, 6 reservable up to 6 months in advance, and NOT in the lottery.

Incidentally, I believe the 6 reservable become available at 9 PM here in Cali, since the Recreation.gov site runs on Eastern time. Checking the north fork permits, I see 5 are already gone for that day that came available just several hours ago.