Just doing some research and stumbled across this forum. I'm coming from the UK in July and have a midweek overnight permit for Mt Whitney. I'm in good physical shape, reasonably experienced and have climbed at over 10,000 before. There will be two of us. We will be doing the Whitney Trail.
Here's my plan so far. Would welcome any advice/pointers:
Day 1 - stay in a Lone Pine motel - already booked.
Day 2 - Drive to trailhead and do a hike to get acclimatized then camp overnight. I can't figure out whether Whitney Portal Campground and Whitney Trailhead Campground are the same thing? Any advice on camping options would be appreciated. Any good hikes - read somewhere about the arches in the Alabama Hills?
Day 3 - hike to Trail Camp and stay over. What time should we set off to get to Trail Camp? I read it gets busy in summer.
Day 4 - hike to summit, return to Trail Camp, pack up and get off mountain then drive to Bridgeport - motel already booked (have to be in San Fran next day). Is this doable in a day? I'm assuming an early (5am?) start is needed.
Thanks in advance.
