Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion When a day trip becomes a two day trip

Hi all,
Have tried finding the answer to this in earlier posts but without success, possibly cos I'm not entering keywords correctly,
So to the question. I have a day permit for a party of two on MWT for 9/26/16. We intend doing everything possible to complete the climb/descent as a day hike, however as my experience of 2015 demonstrated sometimes unforeseen circumstances (eg weather sickness, fatigue) intervene and prevent that being accomplished, therefore I plan to be prepared to overnight on the mountain. If that eventuates, are there any 'consequences' or penalties levied against the party by National Park authorities? For example If we were found to be overnighting at one of the campsites on the way down the trail not being in possession of an overnight pass?

By being prepared, that implies that you are carrying at least a sleeping pad and sleeping bag, and possibly a bivy/tent shelter.

If a ranger checks your permit, and sees you are carrying that equipment, I think he would believe you are planning on spending a night, and therefore would expect you to have an overnight permit. I'm just not sure how it would go trying to convince him that your gear was only there in case of emergency.

It would be better if you just obtained the overnight permit, and then if you completed the hike in a single day, there would be no problems. In fact, if you go prepared for an overnight, you will likely be carrying more than 30 lbs, and that pretty much guarantees that you will not make it in a day.

So... when you go to pick up your day hike permit, it is quite possible that there will be overnight permits available due to people dropping some of their slots. Just ask for the overnight permit.

Not sure if they will give you a parking pass for the overnight, since they are only giving those to people with proper reservations.

Hi Steve,
I take on board what you are saying, however since this wil be a 14000 mile round trip, working to an extremely tight schedule and based on my experience of last year when my overnight trip turned into almost a 4 day trip, I would be very reluctant to go back up the mountain in late September or early October without a tent and 3 season sleeping bag! There were only two of us at Trail Camp on that ocassion and the other guy suffered serious frost bite through being ill prepared. The forecast when I departed was for benign conditions.

Intrepid, I had to look up your last trip. Wow, that was a wild experience!!!

This year you are going a little earlier, so a little lower likelihood of a storm. In fact, you October experience was one of those odd occurrences. Usually the fall storms are lighter.

I see you are starting on a Monday -- Sept 26. You will have NO trouble switching to an overnight permit. It is so late in the summer, there are always permits available on weekdays.

This year, let's hope for clear and dry weather.
...but if any sort of storm is predicted, take all that overnight gear!! Be aware, ANY snowfall on Whitney can become a serious storm, especially in fall.

So glad you were prepared last year.

Yes, I am highly motivated to get the job done this year.
It's pleasing to hear that we should have no difficulty securing an overnight permit tho I am proceeding on the basis that we will be unable to do so. I have done all in my power to secure an overnight permit up to now but without success.
I will deal with the parking permit issue as and when it arises.

Thanks for your responses and happy hiking!