Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney Portal/Trail Opening

When are they opening the gate and trail? Multiple campgrounds in Inyo have opened already so there aren’t any excuses on the lack of communication.

No, there is no excuse for the lack of communication other than a lack of leadership and transparency. Inyo National Forest kept referring inquiries to Inyo County public health. But Inyo County moved to stage 3 last week. What excuses will they come up with next? INF last communication on their website on Whitney was dated May 22. That is over three weeks ago. That is ridiculous. Rather than leading, being proactive and providing effective communication they have gone into hiding behind closed offices and phones that do not get answered.

Exactly. I think there’s local political influence not to open in the Owens area.

Not sure if this matters or not or if I just jinxed myself but got this yesterday (and nothing as of this AM)

We hope the anticipation is building as you prepare for your trip to WHITNEY PORTAL on Sun, Jun 21, 2020 and thought we'd reach out with a friendly reminder and some tips for your upcoming reservation.

Reservation Information
Order #: 0235922136


Sun, Jun 21, 2020
Check-In: 2:00 PM Tue, Jun 23, 2020
Check-Out: 11:00 AM Camping Inventory Icon 023, WHIT
WHITNEY PORTAL
Inyo National Forest

I received this email at 9:00AM this morning:
We hope the anticipation is building as you prepare for your trip to Mt. Whitney on Jun 23 2020, and thought we’d reach out with a friendly reminder and some tips for your upcoming reservation.

As you’re going through final preparations, please take a moment to ensure you pack a few must have items — your reservation confirmation and any permits, passes, or tickets for your trip. Keep in mind, most permit locations require you to print your permit and bring the paper copy with you. It is important that you have all necessary entry documents and the details from your reservation confirmation at the ready when you arrive.

If you haven’t done so already, we also encourage you to review the need to know information and change or cancellation policies in your reservation confirmation email and on the Mt. Whitney page on Recreation.gov. This will provide you with helpful tips and details to get the most out of your experience.

You can also review this reservation or any other reservations that you’ve made by visiting the "My Reservations" page on Recreation.gov.

Enjoy your upcoming trip, and we hope you bring home an amazing story!

And then my permit was canceled a couple of hours later :-(

We received an email "congratulating us" on our Whitney Over-nite hike June 23 for 3 days yesterday... Today, a cancelation notice with refund.

WHAT A STUUUUUPID thing to do ! What if we bought plane tickets to come do our hike ????

Complete Breakdown FUBAR

I do have a plane ticket to come hike. Although I also have backup plans if Whitney doesn't work out.

Lol

My day permit is for next Saturday (1.5 weeks). I’ll be headed up regardless and park at the lower gate. Inyo hasn’t said I can’t.

Do you have an actual day permit, or do you have a RESERVATION for a day permit. The permit allows you to enter the Whitney Zone. The reservation allows you to get the permit, if they ever start issuing them.

I have a RESERVATIONN WOAH. Why even attempt to get the permit. Who cares tho - no rangers patrolling. Probably gonna raw dog it with no permit and potentially get a ...wait for it....$100 fine!!! (Dr Evil voice).

Got this in my inbox a few minutes ago. Only wanted to camp there to hike the Mt. again. Pretty far to drive just to camp at the Portal. How bad is it (ethically) to camp there and hike up without a permit?

Important Update for WHITNEY PORTAL

Check in: June 21, 2020
Check out: June 23, 2020


We are looking forward to hosting you soon at one of the fabulous US Forest Service campgrounds we operate in California. However, ahead of your stay, California State law requires us to notify you of changing procedures related to keeping the public safe from COVID-19.

First and foremost, if you or anyone in your household is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, the state of California requires that you reschedule or cancel your reservation. The fees you paid in advance will be refunded to you.

Second, you should expect some changes in the campground and how it operates. For example:

• Campground workers will be wearing gloves and masks when in your presence. If you do not believe our employees are exercising sufficient caution, email our hotline at covid19@camprrm.com to let us know.

• Campground hosts are required to do an online health assessment each day and any employees showing symptoms will be removed from the campground or quarantined.

• Bathrooms are being cleaned more frequently – schedules will be posted on the bathroom door. Other contact areas in the campground are being disinfected as well.

• Our hosts will be strictly enforcing Forest Service campsite occupancy of 8 people and will encourage social distancing between groups from different households.

As a reservation holder via Recreation.gov, you can bypass the fee station and go straight to your site to set up. A campground host will check you in later and bring you a hang tag without ever getting closer than 6 feet.

It is awesome that we can finally open these campgrounds and help Americans who have been cooped up for months enjoy the outdoors. We hope your visit is terrific, and we appreciate your help in following these requirements so that we can continue to stay open.[u][/u]

I think you’re about to get cancelled. Others have gotten similar messages and got cancelled on the day after.

I called the County Sheriff department and asked whether I could drive all the way up Whitney Portal road for a reservation at the Portal campground. I was told that the all campgrounds were open, so the road should be open, and to check with Inyo Parks & Rec (?!) to confirm.

So I called Parks & Rec and asked whether the road was open all the way to the Portal since the campground was open. The person said "I don't see why not", but said that I should check with the Forest Service.

Calling Inyo Forest Service went as expected (no one picked up), so I tried my luck and called the Inyo Sheriff again. A different person picked up this time and told me to contact the Inyo Roads department since they were the ones in charge of opening that gate. The Roads Department told me that "the gate won't be opening any time soon" and to contact the Forest Service. I was given two numbers, 760-876-6222 and 760-876-6200.

The County (probably the Roads Dept., though it could have been the 2nd call to the Sheriff) also said that "I hope they get moving on this, we've been receiving a lot of calls about that gate." So it seems that the County does share our frustration.

This is the second email this week. Answering machine message for the facility ( 760-937-6070 ) states that the road up to the Portal will open on the 17th (today) and the campground will open next week.

I think this is what most people are so frustrated about. None of the authorities seem to know who is in charge of what or who is making the decisions. The only information they give is to contact someone else, who then tells you to contact someone else, and on and on. Good on you for actually attempting to navigate the labyrinth, but obviously still no real answers. I will concede that complaining on a message board doesn't really help solve the problem, but it's cathartic!

I called that number and was told (by a live person) that the road "won't be open until Friday". Hope it's this Friday and not next Friday!

Is the right way to think about the Whitney Zone right now as that it's the same as off season conditions? I.e., you can hike past the gate and into the WhitneyZone?

During non-quota season, you can legally walk past the gate and dayhike anything you like. You can also write yourself a wilderness permit and do an overnight trip anywhere you like.

During quota season, you can legally dayhike just about anywhere without a permit, as long as you don’t enter the Whitney Zone. But you can’t enter the Whitney Zone without a permit. Entering the lottery and getting a reservation is one thing. You need the actual permit, issued by Inyo National Forest (not recreation.gov) to enter the Whitney Zone legally.

As Jim Lasos pointed out, you always have the option of deliberately breaking the rules. You may or may not get caught. If you get caught, you will probably be fined, and I heard that the fine was several hundred dollars more 20 years ago. If you need a rescue, they may be extra slow due to COVID-19, and the response for others may be extra slow due to your actions.

Now is not the time to be selfish. We should just follow the rules, and come back next year if we don’t get all our summits this year.

Follow the rules???? What rules???? We should never succumb to being sheep to bureaucrats who are not transparent, Who do not communicate and who exhibit a tremendous sense of incompetence. Are you reading all these posts? People spending hours on the phone being given head fakes? The level of incompetence is mind boggling. Public pressure is what is needed, not get in line and put your head down. These are public lands!!!!!!!!!!