Bob,
I'm guessing it's probably a matter of semantics. Perhaps when the ranger said that the overnight permit could only be issued for a particular trail, he meant what you said about it referring only to the TH entry point. However, I probably assumed that he meant not only the TH entry point, but the entire trail as well. I don't recall my conversation with him clearly enough to remember whether this distinction was ever discussed (I'm not sure it was). He just said that I could get an overnight permit either for one trail or the other. I probably drew my own more-restrictive conclusion as what he meant by that, which it seems was incorrect. Thanks for the clarification.
CaT
Cat,
Semantics is the key word here. The root of the problem is the fact that no matter what the Forest Service does, there will always be "loopholes" as thousands of people come up with different scenarios that test the limits. As more people take advantage of loopholes, more restrictions are applied to close the loopholes.
As for your question on different overnight permits for different routes, it has been that way as far back as I can remember. The overnight entry quotas are applied at the trail head (however that is defined by the Forest Service). The confusion arose when the day hike quotas were added to the main trail, and even more confusion came when they added the North Fork/MR to the day hike quota several years ago under the new title of "Mt. Whitney Zone."
So why did we get the Mt. Whitney Zone quota? Answer: Too many day hikers were using the North Fork to go up and return on the main trail without a permit. In other words, it was to close a loophole.
