I called the Whitney Ranger station, and obtained some intel. Hope this will help others interested in Whitney before they open the road.
They do not know when the gate will be unlocked. In the past years. Sometimes the Road Closed sign was removed earlier, as in before May 1st. They said this year the roadClosed sign may be removed later than usual due to the need for removing trapped cars higher up there.
It is okay to leave our cars parked on the gravel lot by the RoadClosed sign/gate for a couple of nights; however, the ranger does not recommend hiking up from the road closed sign on the actual road, because that would be, according to him, 5+ miles of hiking. Instead, he recommends hiking up using a trail from the Lone Pine Camp Ground. He said the distance from that area to the Portal store (AKA Whitney trailhead) is about 3miles. Is there a trail from that campground to the Whitney trailhead? Can anyone confirm this? I have never hiked up to the portal store area from that campground.
The information over the phone appears to be inconsistent with googleMaps and other info I found on the web. For example, on googleMaps I don't see a trail that connects the Lone Pine campground with Whitney trailhead, but of course that doesn't necessarily mean there is no trail. According to this website, the Whitney trailhead is 7 miles away using a trail from the Lone Pine Campground:
http://www.reserveamerica.com/camping/Lo...mp;parkId=70292 I also plotted the distance to Whitney trailhead from the RoadClosed sign, and the distance from the campground. If one were to hike up using the road, the distance from the RoadClosed sign is about 3.5 miles, and from the campground it's 4.7 miles. If there is no trail from the campground, parking and starting from the gravel lot looks to be the better option.
The ranger/staff stated that there are cars stuck somewhere up there, but he doesn't have the information as to the exact location. He said citations are certain if somehow people park/drive pass the locked gate. He told me that the reason for the locked gate is to more easily coordinate the equipment that will pull the cars out, and the concerns of people going into the Whitney zone without the permits and wagBags.
If available, please add more information you have on this topic.
