Onion Valley, Kearsarge Pass to Whitney

Anything going through Whitney Portal will require advanced reservations or Lottery. Consider entering at Onion Valley and exiting Horseshoe meadow (I did that trip last year).  Much more sane than Whitney Portal.  my 2 cents

Appreciate the response, Jon. That does look a lot more sane – anything to avoid the hordes and lottery.

Sorry, but I don’t think that is true. I think you only need to enter the lottery for entering at Whitney Portal and going up the Whitney trail.

I have done the trip you are asking about a few years ago and I used recreation.gov… but there was a daily quota for going over Trail Pass and you need to get that too. Last time I did this on recreation.gov there was an option for that. But, it is possible that things have changed. If you want the latest information always contact the Inyo National Forest permit office.

People on BPL will give you their understanding or last experience, but I have seen wrong information here and things do change. Call Inyo.

Billy

A little digging turned up this from fs.usda.gov:

Reservation Tips for Mt Whitney Trips Not in the Lottery
Trips starting from more distant trailheads, like Kearsarge Pass (Onion Valley Road) or Cottonwood Pass (Horseshoe Meadow Road) are not in the lottery. Permits for these and other Inyo National Forest trails, can be reserved online up to 6 months in advance.

and

Look for a permit type with “Visiting Mt. Whitney” if you will visit the Mt. Whitney Zone, but are <u>not exiting </u>via the Mt Whitney trail to Whitney Portal.

Looks like the “Visit Mt. Whitney” permit is what I need. At least I hope.

I do believe you will need and exit permit to get over Trail Pass and down to Whitney Portal legally…. those used to be available when reserving your trip entering at Onion Valley… and they are limited so best to make your reservations asap…

b

The hike down to the Portal totally sucks in every way. I walked down it at the end of the JMT last year and that will be the only time in my life that I will walk that trail.

Additionally, there’s a huge construction project on the road from the Portal this year. Definitely go with Horseshoe.

“The hike down to the Portal totally sucks in every way.”

People see things different.

I thought that trail was SPECTACULAR and definitely recommend it… especially if you have not done it before.

billy

Whoops, I should clarify. I mean that the “Visit Mt. Whitney” permit is what I need to exit via Horseshoe Meadows.

I’ve done the walk down to Whitney Portal from the summit – on the whole it wasn’t that bad (the prospect of cheeseburgers and beer helped) but passing through trail camp was horrible.

Good point that different people have different experiences of the same trail. I found the trail to be rudely crowded and have lots of trash. I also found the quality of footing to be extremely obnoxious between the switchbacks and trail camp. Lots of treacherous polished, off-camber steps. For me it was a rude end to three weeks in the wilderness with my son.