I've been reading the SEKI Wilderness Trip Planner (
www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/upload/2016-Wilderness-Trip-Planner-Final.pdf) in preparation for this summer's hike.
I spotted a few things that are new/changed, and haven't seen them highlighted on here. I was only focussed on Kearsarge-Whitney, so other stuff that's changed relevant to the HST and similar, I've overlooked.
The biggest change, I think, is that one bear locker is to be once again made available in the Kearsarge Lakes area (unhelpfully, doesn’t say which of the existing 3 locked ones that will be!).
2 night limit in area of Crabtree/Whitney Creek/Guitar lake
3 night limit at Lower & Upper Soldier Lakes combined
SEKI fire limit down to 10k (was 10.4k I think) in the Kern drainage.
9900’ elevation bear locker on JMT alongside Bubbs Creek heading for Forrester is now slated for removal (previously non-functional).
Lower crabtree meadow box to be removed/locked (upper crabtree to be retained).
Separately, there also appear to be many fewer commercial permits available for Whitney (from the West) which I personally think is a shame, as commercial users in my experience tend to have a greater sense of stewardship since their livelihood depends on it.
Thought I'd highlight them here in case anybody else, like me, was familiar with the old rather than the new rules.
