Hi guys,

I'd love to do a section of the JMT this summer/fall and I'm looking at entering at Bishop Pass JM21 and then summit Whitney, leaving via Whitney Portal about 10 days later. So for example start on Aug 25 and exit on Sept 3.

It's Sunday afternoon right now and I'm just checking out the permit system on recreation.gov. Currently from Inyo there are ZERO Whitney exit permits available for any day so far posted for the whole year (today is Feb 10 so I see they are going out to Aug 10 - there's nothing available for any day whatsoever).

My understanding is that permits are available 6 months early. So does that mean I need to be at my computer on March 3 at 7 AM pacific time ready to snag a Overnight Exiting Whitney permit for my desired Sept 3 exit? If so, it seems highly unlikely I'll be able to get a JM21 entry permit because they will have been available for 10 days already while I waited for my exit to come available.

What's the strategy here? I don't want to have to leave via Cottonwood because that will add at least two more days to my trip and I'm already pushing it going 9 days of food with no opportunity to resupply.

I did the North Lake South Lake loop last year so I'm somewhat familiar with all this but the exit quota is throwing me for a loop.

Thanks!