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Mount Whitney, Lone Pine, CA

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Sports & OutdoorsOutdoor AdventureIconic

Mount Whitney

Hike 22 miles round trip from Whitney Portal to the highest summit in the contiguous United States, with a permit.

Whitney Portal trailhead, 13 miles west of Lone Pine · Lone Pine, CA

About Mount Whitney

At 14,505 feet, Mount Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous United States. The Mt. Whitney Trail starts at Whitney Portal, at 8,300 feet in Inyo National Forest, and gains more than 6,200 feet to a summit that marks the southern end of the John Muir Trail. Permits are required, and most quota dates are awarded in a lottery you enter in February on recreation.gov. A stone hut finished in 1909, the Smithsonian Institution Shelter, still stands on top.

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  • #hiking
  • #sierra nevada
  • #wilderness permit
  • #backpacking

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What's around here?

The closest stops to Mount Whitney, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

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    Outdoor Adventure

    Alabama Hills

    No admission fee

    Walk among rounded granite boulders and natural arches below Mount Whitney, on land where Westerns have been filmed since 1920.

    9.5 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing
    History Buff

    Manzanar National Historic Site

    No admission fee

    Tour the site of a World War II camp where more than 11,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated.

    13 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Diaz Lake Recreation Area

    Check prices

    County-run lake and campground in Inyo County, California, known for fishing and water recreation.

    13 mi awayMore like this

  • Museums

    Eastern California Museum

    Check prices

    A county-run history and heritage museum in Independence that covers the Owens Valley and the Eastern Sierra.

    16 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    General Sherman Tree

    $25–$50

    Walk a paved half-mile trail through Giant Forest to stand at the base of the largest tree on Earth by volume.

    25 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Iconic

    Kings Canyon National Park

    $25–$50

    See giant sequoias at Grant Grove, then drive Highway 180 down into a glacier-carved canyon more than a mile deep.

    26 mi awayMore like this

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