We are headed out to San Diego for our friend’s wedding over Labor Day weekend, so a group of us decided to extend the trip and add the adventure of hiking Mt. Whitney to the itinerary.
Permits are required year-round to hike Mt. Whitney to prevent overuse of the trail. The Forest Service issues a limited number of permits between May 1 and November 1. When submitting your permit, we recommend getting your application in as early as you can and to be flexible with your hiking dates to give you a few different options for your permit.
We submitted our permit in the beginning of February and just received the good news! Our group was allotted a permit for this year’s Mt. Whitney lottery and are gearing up to hit the trail in early September with some close friends.
Mt. Whitney is the highest summit in the lower 48 of the United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet. It’s located in Southern California on the eastern side near many of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada. The hike itself is about 22 mi round-trip with an elevation gain of over 6,100 ft.
This is definitely a bucket list hike for us and we couldn’t be more excited! We will be posting our trip training and hike details as we get closer.
In the meantime, hike onward!
