Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Trail Crest Exit Permit Logistics

If I understand correctly, when approaching Whitney from the west (think Cottonwood Pass, Kearsarge Pass, etc) 15 permits that include Trail Crest exit are available at the 6 month window and then 10 are saved for walk-up. I assume the "walk-up" now means reserving online via Recreation.gov instead of actually walking up in Lone Pine like we used to. What are the specific logistics of securing that "walk up" exit permit? I know it's probably hard to do, but I just want to understand how it is supposed to work.

For example, do you secure your entry permit for the date you want and then two weeks out (or some other window) the exit permit inventory is released and you try to get lucky and grab one? Or are you waiting to grab both the entry permit and the Trail Crest exit at the same time two weeks out? Or am I totally off base and it's something completely different?

I ask because we had a date change and had to give up our Cottonwood Pass with Trail Crest exit for September, but I was able to grab a Cottonwood Pass without the TC exit for August instead. We are prepared to hike back to Horseshoe Meadows if we must, but would love to at least have a chance at getting that Trail Crest exit. Understanding exactly how it works would at least give us a shot.

THat's a complicated question. You should call the wilderness permit phone number 760-873-2483 and ask the question.

I think that you have a special case situation, since you have the Cottonwood Pass without Trail Crest permit. It may be that you need to log onto recreation.gov when the last "walk-in" exit permits become available, and then change/modify your existing permit by adding the TC Exit. But that is only my imagining how it works.

Good luck!

...if you are successful, please share how it works. Thanks.

Thanks for the advice. I will try the number this week and see what they have to say. I hate that I lost the one I had reserved, so hoping there is a way, but I understand that I may have to just hope for the best. I will certainly report back if I get any definitive answers about how the process works.

I hiked up Whitney from the west last September after securing a “walk-up” Trail Crest exit permit from Cottonwood Lakes via New Army Pass and can speak to this.The best thing to do would be hang onto your Cottonwood Pass permits, but check Recreation.gov regularly to see if any Cottonwood Pass with Trail Crest exit permits become available. What you’re hoping for is someone cancelling their Trail Crest exit permit. If that happens, reserve the new permits with Trail Crest exit and cancel your old permits after confirming you have the new permits. I was able to secure my permits 3 weeks before my trip as there were some cancellations and permits became available for my start date.

From Recreation.gov:
Reservations open DAILY at 7AM PST:

- 60% of spaces are released 6 months in advance, on the matching date (example entry date of July 4 opens on January 4)
- "W" means 60% of spaces were posted and sold out, 40% of spaces remain but are not yet released
- 40% of spaces are released 2 weeks in advance, on the same day of the week (example entry date of Tuesday July 4 opens on Tuesday June 20)

The Trail Crest exit permit quota is independent of the entry quota and applies to all wilderness permits starting from any trailhead in the Inyo NF/SEKI system. It’s based on your start date not your exit date. So a group of 5 starting from Bishop Pass and a group of 5 starting from Cottonwood Lakes could both reserve wilderness permits for their respective trailheads with Trail Crest exit permits for August 15th. That would fill that day’s entire walk up permit allocation for Trail Crest exit.

You can also keep an eye out for Cottonwood Lakes wilderness permits. The view of Mt. Langley, GWD, and Mt. Whitney is something else from the top of New Army Pass.

Here’s a link which lists every Inyo NF trailhead wilderness quota:
Inyo NF Trailhead Wilderness Quotas