Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Camping at the Portal

Is there first come first serve camping at the Portal Campground? I will be coming early Friday August 3rd, Hiking up the 6th.

I think all of the camping at the portal is first come first serve. I am driving up tomorrow to day hike on Sunday. I will let you know my experience, including finding a campsite on a Friday as you will be, when i get back.

Thank you very much

Actually, much of the campground at Whitney Portal is reservation at rec.gov. They are very busy, but do have walk ups available most of the time.

An alluded to earlier, 60% of the campsites in the family campground are reservable on Recreation.gov. The rest are FCFS. The walk-in backpacker sites by the trailhead are also FCFS. (See also Whitney Portal Campground)

I got there around 4pm on Friday 7/20. The group campsites were full but I spoke to the lady in charge of them (Cheryl?) and she told me to come by her camper at 530am Saturday and there would most likely be a spot. I was lucky enough to get the last backpacker site up by the trail head. I woke up at 5 walked down and got a spot no problem.