I just left Whitney Portal this a.m after summiting on 1 October...being out of the loop for a few days, people going up were commenting "there is no government down there" I was scratching my head, till I realized what they were talking about. We left Portal campgrounds at 11am 2 October and it did seem to be sparse, no signs though or any "signs" of closure. There is NO ranger checking for permits at the Whitney Zone as there was when we were going up....as I told everyone else..GO UP WHITNEY NOW, NO RANGERS TO CHECK FOR PERMITS!!!
