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Mount
Whitney is in the Inyo National Forest. The Forest Service's
Mount
Whitney Information Page has information on the
lottery, permits
and quotas, wilderness
safety, and preparing
for the trip. The Forest Service also offers this
informative trip
planning guide (4 MB PDF file), and unfortunate
instructions on packing
out your poop.
The
website of the Whitney
Portal Store includes a link to the Whitney
portal campground reservation page, a currently
broken Whitney webcam and an excellent
message
board (free registration required) including an
FAQ
thread and an orientation
thread.
Most
Whitney trip reports describe a long, strenuous, spectacular walk. However, weather conditions
are not completely predictable, and can change very
quickly. It pays to be prepared,
as described in this
cautionary tale of a windy October hike, and in
these message board posts on storms in July
and August.
Reliable
water sources along the Whitney Trail are described
by Bob Rockwell in this Word
document and in these
pictures. The two sources are combined on the
miscellaneous page. BR's recommendation to not filter water
on the Whitney trail is controversial. The Forest Service
warns of the risk of contracting giardiasis unless wilderness
water is filtered or otherwise treated.
BR
has also documented the known remaining mile
markers on the trail.
The
"ten essentials" for a wilderness day hike are
described this
Wikipedia article (and in lots of other places on
the web). Backpacker.net expands the
essentials list to 14, and also offers suggestions
for overnight gear.
Information
on altitude
sickness and on hypothermia
prevention, recognition,
and treatment.
The
Department of Water Resources monitors temperature and
precipitation at its Cottonwood
Lakes weather station. At about 10,000 feet, it is
the closest weather station to Mt. Whitney. Add or
subtract 3 to 4 degrees per 1,000 feet to estimate temperature
at other elevations.
The
National Weather Service provides forecasts based on
longitude and latitude coordinates, including these
weather forecasts for the Whitney Portal and
for
the Whitney
Summit (I'm not sure how accurate these are, and
in any case weather conditions can change very quickly).
The Wikipedia
article on Mt. Whitney includes this
high resolution topographic map (1.3 MB PNG file)
showing the main trail. The article also includes a good picture
of the destination.
Wayne Pyle's map of the 97
switchbacks (Excel file) between trail camp and
trail crest.
WP has also compiled a list of other
mountains visible from the summit of Whitney, many
of which are shown on these computer-generated panoramas to the North
and South
of the summit.
Whitney
Portal Campground information from Reserve USA.
Elevation
profile of the main trail from OutdoorDB.org.
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