[pct-l] Mount Whitney Zone entry date

[Paint Your Wagon]

Simon,

Yogi makes a good point about the Whitney permit application being 
misleading in that the PCT route up Whitney from the west side is free.
It's actually the JMT that goes up the mountain from the west side. The 
Whitney Portal Trail tackles the east side of the mountain.

I'm doing my third thru hike "attempt" this year, and I just sent in the 
$15.00 for the permit, for the third time, even though I don't plan on using 
it.
I get it in the event I choose to reenter the trail from the town of Lone 
Pine, via the Whitney Portal.
In fact, in 2012 and 2013, I paid $30 each time, to cover a person that 
might be hiking with me, but failed to get their permit.
Again, I never used the east side, and no, I don't like throwing my money 
away- I just see it as a donation.
This year, the application process is different in that there was no option 
for additional persons to be covered under the permit.

As to your question regarding hitting the date exactly... it's kind of a 
soft rule (for the PCT-ers mostly) in how the trail cops see you missing the 
date.
What? They know you just walked almost 800 miles and things happen along the 
way, taking a hiker off their target date, more times than not,
so they give the person some slack.
The whole idea of the permit process is to limit the number of people using 
the trail at any one time, and to limit the number of users over a season.
I think 20,000 permits is about the number issued for the season.

Put another way, even though you miss your target date, and grow the trail 
population by one, thus not accounted for in that day's permit quota,
you ARE accounted for, in the seasonal quota. Make sense? I think that's why 
the authorities cut us some slack.
Plus we are attempting to comply by getting a permit in the first place, 
whereas there are bandit hikers that don't,
so that carries a bit of goodwill with the trail po po.

The trail is crowded like Disneyland crowded, on the east side, due to the 
fact that one can drive halfway up the mountain in a vehicle.
It's a huge tourist draw, being that it is the highest elevation in the 
lower 48 contiguous states.
Plus, you have to carry a wag bag in the event you find yourself needing to 
take a dump whilst touring the countryside.

Hike on!

<>Paint<>