Great thanks.
I discovered the problem with why I couldn't figure out establishing my Whitney permit request. From the Inyo National Forest website as well as your information here at the Zone it explains to type "INYO NATIONAL FOREST - WILDERNESS PERMITS" in the Recreation.gov search field.
Perhaps you've noticed that doing so gets you to this link-
https://www.recreation.gov/wildernessAreaDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72203
The Whitney Permit most people want is not linked here anywhere.

There's a drop down with 6 differnet options, 4 of which have Whitney options to visit, exit, cross country, over night.
then it asks for an entry trail. I'm thinking "Where the heck is Whitney trail as an option?"
so I was sitting here for quite a while trying to get it to work.
The link Jim sent me gets to the right place. Also searching for just 'Whitney Permit' on the rec.gov site gets me here.


On the Inyo website main page, the www.recreation.gov links goes to two different places. One to the main rec.gov site and the other to the Inyo Natl Forest area of the rec.gov site.

So finally, after I saw Jim's post I also tried just typing in Whitney Permit and got there.
This all may just sound kinda silly. Your saying to yourself, "Why didn't he just type in Whitney in the first place."
I was just going with what your site here and Inyo linked me to.
Now, if I'm missing something or am just wrong somewhere, please forgive me.
It does appear to me there's an error here which may have caused trouble for others.
I think just telling people to type Whitney Permit on the Rec.gov site seems best cuz it certainly doesn't work as it is now.
sorry for carrying on and thanks for getting me there Jim.