I am planning on hiking Cottonwood Lake to Mt. Whitney and exit Whitney Portal. But I don't know exactly when I'll be reaching Mt. Whitney. Must I exit on the exact date I pick as an exit date?

I do enjoy hiking and backpacking but this is my first time hiking in an area were permits are required so I don't know the ins and outs. I'll be 70 years old when I start the hike and most likely I'll hiking solo so I can take it slow and enjoy what the area has to offer.

I'm sure this has been address before but I was unable to find any old post about choosing exit dates. Thanks for any help.

Exit date is just a guesstimate. As long as you have the proper permits you're OK.

Agree- no problem.

Rangers know that things come up. They are understanding.

You do not always run into one, or one that you meet that even wants to see your permit. I have always had good meetings with the many rangers I have met on the trail (of course I always had a permit).

Congratulations on being 5 yrs older than me. You can always use that reason.

Thank you. I wish the permit system made this more clear somewhere. I'm use to BLM lands - no permits required around here for backpacking the back country.

"I'm old!" That really works? Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

Permit system info unfortunately cant' expressly explain it that way, because the reg is written in such a way that the date is the date. I think the rangers know it is a dumb system, so administer it reasonably. Better system would be to simply allocate exits to a limited number of entry permits, without even naming an exit date, as in the Yos Donohue deal. Effect on trail use would be exactly the same without the anxiety.

Can I use that? "Hey, officer, how about a break here? I'm older than Harvey Lankford!"