Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Difference between walk in permit for dayhike vs. overnite?

Ok, so can someone explain the difference to me between a day hike permit and overnite permit besides the obvious you cant use a dayhike permit to backpack overnite. can i use an overnite permit and just dayhike but camp if i want to? haha. I am trying to get a walk in permit tomorrow friday august 12th to dayhike on saturday. my intention is to hike up to lone pine lake tomorrow evening and go up whitney early saturday as a day hike and back down to lone pine lake saturday evening. so since lone pine lake isnt in the whitney zone, no permit is required there at all correct? so technically i can get either permit tomorrow for hiking on saturday is how i understand it...please correct if i am wrong.

I'm not an expert on this stuff, but...

Getting an overnight permit to dayhike because dayhiking permits aren't available is considered by most to be an abuse of the system, and the rangers may ask to see your bear canister.

I do not believe camping is permitted at LPL, so if you were saying you were going to sleep there Friday night, I don't think that plan is a good one.

If your intention is to backpack (overnight) the MMWT, I would suggest trying for an overnight walk-in permit, and then camping in an approved area.

Good luck and have fun.

J-G

Dennis,

So if I understand you correctly, your intention is to spend the night at Lone Pine Lake Friday evening, then "day hike" from there to the summit on Saturday (including back down to Lone Pine Lake the same day)? That would be considered an overnight (regardless of whether or not LPL is in the Whitney Zone), and you would need an overnight permit for the Main Trail, entering that trail on Friday, 8/12. That would cover everything you have mentioned, assuming my above interpretation is correct. A dayhike means no overnight camping at all anywhere on the trail.

Also, camping is allowed at Lone Pine Lake. Here is an excerpt from the "Wilderness Permit Options" on the left side of this page, under "Feature Topics":


Hope this helps.

CaT

super helpful! thank you guys so much...

If you show up tomorrow, there will be two lotteries. One at 10 a.m.for an overnight permit, to enter anytime on Friday during the day, to camp on Friday night and as many nights thereafter as you need. There will be another lottery, at I don't know what time, for a day hiking permit (to enter at midnight or later on Friday night). So you could try for the one lottery, and if you don't get it, try for the other.

If you want to camp at Lone Pine Lake, though, you do need an overnight permit even though it is not in the Whitney Zone.

Edit: Wilderness Permit Options (link above on the left), box 6 gives the time for the walk-in permits: 11 a.m. for same-day overnight, and 2 p.m; for next-day day hike permits.