Hi all,

First time trying for Whitney...

I'll try to keep this short enough to stay interesting but long enough to provide information for those who, like me, were looking for details on making this trip.

I got into backpacking a couple years ago and have been hiking a few of my local mountains (San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, Mt Baldy etc).

About a year ago, I made the decision to hike Whitney and started my research. I used forums, youtube, websites etc.

I didn't get an overnight permit through the lottery, but, thanks to this forum, I discovered I would probably be able to grab a permit once the unclaimed permits were released.... which is what happened.

Did some extra training and tried to hike some of the taller mountains around me a couple months up to a week or so before my trip.

My itinerary was:

Day 1- Arrive in Lone Pine sometime in the morning/ early afternoon. Wander around Alabama Hills until check-in time at my hotel (Best Western- not cheap, but nice room, breakfast included).

Day 2- Check out of hotel and drive to Horseshoe Meadows and hike around for a couple hours to get into some altitude. Did about 5 miles (round trip) of the Cottonwood Lakes Trail. Really liked this trail. Lots of bear lockers in the parking lot to store food while you're on your hike.

It's about a 40 minute drive from Lone Pine to Horseshoe Meadows.

After my hike- drive to my reserved campsite at Whitney Portal around the 2:00pm check-in time.

Camp in campground. Really liked this campground. Campsite was right next to a small river/ stream. Bear locker to store gear/ food.

Eat dinner at the Whitney Portal store/ restaurant (about a 15 minute walk from the campsite). Great store. Had lots of last-minute items available for sale: fuel, clothing, food, water filters etc. Prices were very reasonable.

Day 3- Pack up and start hike to Trail Camp. Left at 8:00am. Arrived at Trail Camp at 12:45pm. Took a couple short breaks and one 15 minute break at Lone Pine Lake.

I brought a new tent-stake supported ultralight tent and had no issues staking it using rocks and/ or getting the stakes started into the ground and used rocks to secure it.

There was a lot of tent sites in the area. I would not worry about not getting one. Some were more hidden than others. I suggest wandering around before deciding on where to set your tent.

Weather was great. Forecast was sunny with highs of 50-60 and lows around 30-40.

Note: Trail Camp is very exposed with little to no shade. Depending on your timing you may have many hours of direct sunshine/ wind etc to sit through before bed time so plan accordingly.

[plans that didn't happen](Day 3 and 4- was going to sleep at Trail Camp, summit the next morning and then hike down to Outpost Camp for a casual last day/ night and hike out in the morning.)

I drank 2 liters of water and ate snacks during the hike to Trail Camp. On the hike up and for the first couple hours at Trail Camp, I felt fine. I started to get a headache around 3:00pm. I ate some food and drank a liter of water with some electrolyte tabs. Tried to lay down to rest and started feeling nauseous. Standing up, I was fine.

About 5:30pm, I made the decision to hike out. I figured it would be better/ easier to hike out at that point v.s. hoping I felt better overnight. I didn't want to wake up in the middle of the night, feeling worse, and have to pack up and leave in the dark.

Don't know if there is a way to know if what I was experiencing was altitude sickness or something else but I felt better as I was hiking down. I think part of that was just the fact I was heading back.

Made it back to the car at 8:00pm (I tend to hike very fast on the way back from hikes). Hiked about an hour in the dark. I used a headlamp, but, with the full-moon, I probably could have made it back without one (not that I would ever leave without a light source.. or two).

All-in-all, it was a great trip. About a 4 hour drive for me from San Diego. I'll definitely be back.

Thank you to the people of the forum for posting helpful information for people like me doing research. Hopefully, this post helps a few people.

Pics in the next post.