grin hooray got the permit letter yesterday! 3 people for Sept 13th. I love the nice 'Hiking the Mt Whitney Trail' guide which includes scary trail snow pictures, bear damage to cars, wag bag instructions and picture, AMS symptom list, severe weather survival tactics, equipment checklist, and Trail Camp campsite recommendations to dispurse the crowds. Guess they get a lot of people who show up in shorts and a T-shirt with a granola bar and a small bottle of water. The 'come prepared for a hike of 22 miles and 12,000 feet elevation gain/loss' gets your attention real quick!