Would be great if I could get some opinions.

It's been about 5 years since my last day hike, and that time I stayed in a lone pine hotel before/after my hike.

This time we plan to car camp and I just booked a spot at the portal car campground. After reading a bit, it sounds like that campground will be fairly active(noisy) through the night, so I'm thinking we might book at the lone pine campground in stead. Also I don't recall how far the portal car campground is from the trail. Is that a short walk? LOL pretty funny asking that since we're signing up for a 22 mile trek

Anyone have any experience with either car camp site? Any suggestions?

I assume by "portal car campground" you mean the federal Whitney Portal Campground. It's about 1/2 mile from the Mt Whitney trail head. No need to walk, you can drive to and park at the Portal. (If you're not camping a second night after your hike, you'll have to break camp, pack up, and move your car anyway).

I've camped there twice - once starting my hike at 3:30AM and once starting at 7AM. Never have I noticed any noisy activity. There will be late arrivals and early departures but my experience is that the campers are aware and considerate.

According to the Rec.gov website the Lone Pine Campground is 7 miles from the trail head. I've never camped/been there. It appears to be some distance from the Whitney Portal Road.

Another option is the walk-in campsites right at the Portal. There you might notice more activity because there are many hikers coming and going who are not camping there. The sites there are very convenient - always available, very close to trail head, Portal Store, restroom, water faucet, garbage cans, and bear lockers. I have camped there a couple of times and experienced no problems. I think the fee is $12 per night (1 night only) and the sites are small only big enough for one tent (but there are plenty)

Thanks a million. That answers my questions.

We're planning on staying at the whitney portal campground the night before and after our hike. I had assumed the noise concerns some have mentioned about the portal walk-in campgrounds might apply to the "drive-in" campground. That was my only concern.

Cheers!

Been there many times and never found the beer lockers.

Spending the night at the higher campground will help you acclimatize.

Also please catch up on "last day hike was 5 years ago"