Moderator edit: All the info below is from 2018.



For those looking for a status update on Whitney Portal from the Inyo National Forest.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:o6Uki33RlJgJ:https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/inyo/news-events/%3Fcid%3DFSEPRD586807+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us


Whitney Portal Road, Whitney Portal and Trailhead to Re-open
Shepherd Pass Trail also Re-opening

The Inyo National Forest is planning to re-open the Whitney Portal Road and access to the Mt. Whitney Trailhead at 6:00 pm today (6/9/20). The Shepherd Pass Trail is also re-opening.

The evacuation is also being lifted for the Whitney Portal area, including campgrounds, residents, and the Whitney Portal Store.

The opening is tentative and could change if unexpected fire behavior were to occur forcing the area to remain closed for public safety.

The Eastern Sierra Visitor Center in Lone Pine will begin issuing permits for both day and overnight hikers who have reservations for the Mt. Whitney Trailhead. They will also be re-issuing permits for hikers who were unable to complete their hike in the past few days due to the fire. They plan to remain open until 8:00 pm to assist hikers. The visitor center will be fully staffed and fire information officer will be available to update hikers on the Georges Fire.

In addition, hikers can request night box service by calling the Wilderness Permit Office at 760-873-2483 or 760-873-2573.The Wilderness Permit Office will be open until 7:30 pm to accommodate these requests.

We appreciate your continued patience as we work to re-open and re-issue these permits. In addition, parking at Whitney Portal will be extremely limited. Hikers are highly encouraged to use shuttles and carpools to help alleviate parking congestion.

The Eastern Sierra is a fire-adapted and fire-prone environment and wildfire is a reality here. The Inyo National Forest appreciates the efforts of SoCal Team 3, Cal Fire, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office, Bishop BLM Field Office, local fire departments, and all other partners who have made significant efforts to help get this area re-opened and their work to safely contain this fire.

Hopefully the correct link is below. I apologize for my link error on the original post.


INFS Whitney Portal Reopening Information

I'm confused. Wasn't the Georges Fire back in 2018?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Fire

This looks like an old cached page. Can anybody confirm if this is true - I have permits for early July.

The above quoted section was lifted exactly from a 2018 document:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd586806.pdf

except for the addition of the "(6/9/20)" date. Since the document was copied and edited, it is an intentional fake, not a reference to the wrong document.


You can check for fire events at InciWeb:

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/


Dale B. Dalrymple

Man..all this did was get my hopes up. Why would you purposefully edit an old post?!

My apologies everyone. Definitely did not intend to post a false report. You are correct that it does show 6/9/20. When I logged on INFS to check today I saw the report and added the 6/9/20 as I thought it would provide clarification to their “today” verbiage. Sorry to get everyone’s hopes up as you are in fact correct that this is an old cache. Just an eager hiker looking to get to the top of the mountain as I’m sure more of you are as well. Again my apologies.

Thanks for trying, Travis. Last we heard, it will be about July 1 when they open.

I just reviewed Inyo County Website. They have new announcement. They anticipate that on June 12 they will allow schools, bars, wineries, casinos, gyms and campgrounds to reopen. This should force the hand of Inyo National Forest to reopen all the campgrounds, including the portal. Shocking to me that the Inyo National Forest has not posted updates on this critical milestone. But their lack of communication and leadership has been consistent from the beginning.

See: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recmain/inyo/recreation

Just back from Lone Pine and 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday) of hiking.

As reported, Lone Pine Campground is open witj camp host and with water. There were about 10 campers there.

Tuttle Creek campground open with several campers there.

Horseshoe Meadows is still closed, the gate is closed about half a mile from trail head. There were some 30 cars parked along the road.

The Portal road still closed at the bottom of the switchbacks.

The road to Onion Valley open, campgrounds closed. About 20 cars parked in the parking lot.

I hiked to Chicken Springs, then took the PCT around to Trail Pas. Some snow on the PCT.....minor.

The next day hiked to Keasarge Pass. Lots of PCT and JMT hikers going in and out.

paul

Travis: are you sure that INFS exists in California? There is an INF and a USFS, but I think that INFS stands for Institute of Nutrition and Food Science.

I think by INFS he meant Inyo National Forest Service.

Steve: I think that's probably what he meant, but I don't think that INFS actually exists in California.

INF is an established acronym that stands for Inyo National Forest.