There is hope on the walk-in permit situation. Earlier in the week, I emailed my Inyo N.F. contact about the no-shows being available online. Rec.gov was blocking out current day and next day permits then.
Now, I see that tomorrow's overnight permits are online and available! -- this is for the Main Trail, so Consultation Lake! So if this continues, you should be able to grab a next-day overnight permit in the future.
I'm not sure about the North Fork Lone Pine Creek -- there are a max of 10 overnight permits, but don't know if no-shows are made available online, or if walk-ins are still on the program. You should call the Wilderness Permit number and ask how that works for this season: 760-873-2483
By the way, the easy way to get to rec.gov for the Day Use and Overnight Whitney Zone permits, just click on the Lottery Info link (Feature Topics box at the top on the left). Top of that page, you can follow steps to get into those permits and to see what's available.
