High Sierra Topix

AlmostThere wrote:[
Choose a Sierra NF or Yosemite trailhead and that problem vanishes.

Very good information to know and I wish I would have thought to ask before we got a permit for another area. If I had thought to ask here first I would have known. After being a member and reading the posts here the last few years I know that you folks almost always have a way around permit problems.
The last couple of years I've enlisted Marskor and his vast experience to help me plan our "Big Trip" of year. This year I decided to plan it all on my own and see what happens.

Maybe things have dramatically changed, but...
Rangers have always lent a kind eye to those doing the entire Muir...Doing any of the big ticket hikes too...They do understand.

Agreed that it has been a few years for me personally but, how are you supposed to keep exact dates straight when doing a 2+ week journey? Having to hit the exact day passing through Trail Crest, after 209 miles would be way beyond my abilities...(admittedly, I do lose time easily)...maybe what is needed here is a detailed spread sheet? (Rogue?)

IMHO, do you think will they would really give you a ticket if perhaps, your pack broke/got injured/ girlfriend started complaining, bla bla bla... at TC, and were thus forced to curtail your trip immediately? Under these situations, going down to the Portal instead of Horseshoe Meadows would make sense (and not worrying about anything else).

Not advocating breaking any laws mind you, but if I possessed a valid Muir Permit from HI to HM, I would not think twice about any Whitney regulations, (other than having a can along), and exit where it damn well suited me best. These regs are meant for keeping quotas, but more specifically to put a limit on the vast numbers of those short-timers coming up from Lone Pine, not those backpacking few who started hundreds of miles north.

I may be wrong.

Thanks for the replies, folks. Exactly what I was looking for.

Markskor's comments about the rangers reminded me of a little story. One day me and a mate were snowed off a ridge in November when Old Man Winter came a-calling a little early. We didn't have winter gear and retreated down to Lodgepole. The car was back in Cedar Grove so we decided to hitchhike. We asked around for a pen to make a sign and got the cold shoulder from a couple Forest Service people who told us it was illegal to hitchhike and they couldn't help us. The old gent in the visitor center was a kind old soul, though, and even made the sign for us and laminated it in the office. After managing to hitch to Grant Grove, we bivvied in the campground there overnight during the most ferocious thunder and lightning snowstorm I've ever experienced. The next morning we stood freezing by the road for hours, everyone passing by ignored us. In the end, we did get a lift. The guy who picked us up was the chief ranger, I believe his name was Dave. Real nice guy. I'll never forget that.

Do they even pay attention to people exiting in the Whitney zone? Last year, when doing the HST starting from the west, I did not see a ranger on the way out. It's been a long time since I've day hiked Whitney on the standard route, but my recollection is that someone was posted just above Lone Pine Lake checking permits on the way in. Last year, I got down there in late p.m. and there was no ranger.

I have to admit the idea of rangers cracking heads over small details involving a permit - at least when it comes to a worn out hiker just trying to leave the backcountry after a long, grueling trek - seems really unlikely and frankly downright bizarre.

I'm curious about this "exit permit" business. I got permits for the JMT starting at Happy Isles in 2004 and again in 2009 (from NPS, of course, since the starting point was Yosemite), and no one ever mentioned anything about an exit permit. The first time, I specifically asked (when I picked up my permit) whether I needed any special permitting because of going through the Whitney area, and they said no. According to what I've been able to find out on the web, exit permits were instituted in 2002, so it should have been an issue both times I got my permit. Any idea what's going on here? I got my permits very early (in fact, as early as the rules would permit) both times, so maybe I just got "quota-ed" in without my knowing about it? There certainly wasn't anything specific on my printed permit about it. The Inyo National Forest Whitney-permitting website http://snipurl.com/.6k is vague about it, just saying "Trail Crest Exit Quota applies to visitors who descend the Mt Whitney Trail after beginning the trip elsewhere. Exit space is issued along with the entry date and trail, on the same permit." Not very helpful.

The Trail Crest exit permit is required by Inyo National Forest. If you enter the wilderness in Inyo National Forest, you have to have an exit permit. If your entry point is outside Inyo National Forest (Yosemite, west side SEKI, etc) you do not need the exit permit.

Ah, thank you, lambertiana (aren't you one of the famous Pinus brothers? or Sisters? )!

BSquared - You are one of only about five people in the last ten years who picked up on the origin of my forum name (which I use on a number of different forums). I guess there aren't many dendrologists out there. My three favorite Sierra species are lambertiana, balfouriana, and albicaulis.

I confess to being a biologist, but hardly a dendrologist (although I'm working with sugar maple right now). P. lambertiana is definitely one of my favorites, but I confess that my favorite Sierra tree—besides Sequoiadendron giganteum of course—is Abies magnifica. Something about those dark, straight trunks just says "tree" to me.

Let's see, mandatory on-topic comment: maybe Coolbreeze can start his hike in Tuolumne Meadows, adding, what about three days? Or even "start" in Tuolumne, realize that he'd "forgotten" something, go back out, and then restart (with his Tuolumne permit) at Reds? Of course I'd never seriously advocate going around the regs that way...