If this has been discussed, I apologize.
NEW MEMBER HERE!
This will be my 2nd Whitney trip and this time my group and I would like to spend an extra day/night on the trail after summiting, but our permits are one night only.
Should this be a concern?
The dates on the permit give you and your party permission to be within the Whitney Zone during that time period - not before, and not after. However, the Whitney Zone boundary is 3 miles up the trail from the Portal, just above Lone Pine Lake. Since no permit is needed outside that zone, I'm quite sure you could spend an extra night at, say, Lone Pine Lake. To be on the safe side, you could call the Visitor Center in Lone Pine to confirm this, and also verify it's OK to camp near the lake.
