For those of us who live far away, but might be somewhere in the greater area for business, it gives some confidence that driving over from Vegas or LA for a few days in the middle of the week won't be a waste of time.
Yes! And for that matter, you can monitor the site from those locations, and once you snag a permit, you can then drive to Lone Pine and make the hike.
It isn't well documented, but if you snag a next-day permit in the afternoon, and want to drive up and get an early start, you can call the Wilderness Permit number (760-873-2483) and ask for a night-box pickup. They put those permits in a box in the kiosk by the road in front of the Inter-agency Visitor Center where you normally pick up the permits. The only issue is that sometimes the Inyo N.F. phones are not working (happens more often than most places) and you can't get through. Also if you call the number and it disconnects, you have to try again and again--there is not hold/wait queue. Pretty frustrating.
