My wife and I day hiked and summited (barely) yesterday. We arrived around 6pm on Thursday night and slept in the parking lot. PLENTY of parking in the permit area, maybe 50% full around 6pm, some cars started showing up around 2am (day hikers), but never saw anything close to full. This was in the main area right in front of the trailhead, I would guess that the overflow lot was empty.
As far as the construction, on Thursday we drove up the portal road twice. Once at about 1pm to visit Movie Road about a mile up, and the 2nd time around 430pm to drive all the way to the portal. In both cases, we got stopped very close to the main road for about 15 to wait for a pilot car. There is a 2nd restricted sections further up the mountain, we got lucky and only waited a couple of minutes for a pilot car that time. When we drove off the mountain yesterday/friday around 6pm, it was wide open with no construction or delays.
I took a picture of the noticed posted at the permit office. It says as of Aug 1st, construction runs M-F 6am-730pm, with extended delays 8-11am and 1-4pm.
I am convinced that I would not have summitted if not for the assistance of this board, so if I can answer any questions or share my experience, please feel free to email me thomasbaumann [at] gmail dot com.
