Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Pick-up time for day-use permit?

I've got a day use permit reservation for July 21. If I understand the confirmation email correctly, I need to pick up the permit at the ranger station before noon on the 20th, otherwise they give it away to someone else? Is that right? I don't suppose there's any way to hold the permit until later in the afternoon?

The reason I ask is that Lone Pine is about a 7 hour drive from the San Francisco area where I live. To get there by noon on the 20th with some margin for error, I'd need to leave home around 4 AM, or else burn yet another day by driving there on the 19th.

Thanks!

Steve, That is the time for day hike pickup. Overnight pickup deadline is 10 AM the day of the hike.

If you call the Wilderness Permit Office number the day before, they will arrange to hold your permit until you show up.

In fact, if you "check in" online (and I think you can do that two weeks in advance), they hold it all day anyway. (However, I would not rely on this.) And please -- if you cancel or some of your party cancels, be sure to let them know so the slots can be made available to others!! In fact, leading up to your hike, if anyone cancels, go online and release the slot(s).

In the past, they have even put permits into a night pickup box by the road in front of the Visitor Center for people who arrived after closing. There may be some restriction on this, though, like having used their system before, so you know the WAG Bag rules, etc. Call the permit office and ask: 760-873-2483

(By the way: Good luck on the day hike without any acclimatization.)

Excellent, thanks for the info! If they can hold the permit until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, that will really help. I'll give them a call the day before.

Yes, I'll definitely release any unused permits if my plans change. Frankly I was surprised to get a permit reservation at all - I was prepared to do the walk-up permit lottery thing, but then I saw on recreation.gov there are still many dates open for the summer, if you're a small group and willing to go mid-week.

I agree doing the day hike without an acclimatization day will make it tougher. If I can finagle it, I'll try arriving in the area on the 19th instead of the 20th. I survived two prior Sierra 14ers fine without an acclimatization day, but they were both two-day climbs instead of a day hike.