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Mount Whitney, Lone Pine, CA

Photo: Geographer ( talk · contribs ), CC BY 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sport & OutdoorOutdoor AdventureIconic

Mount Whitney

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

Why you should go…

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.

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

Good to know

General sport & outdoor guidance

Habits that pay off across this whole category, not rules for this one venue. Always check the official site for the specifics.

  • Weather calls the shots

    Check the forecast the morning of and keep an indoor backup in your pocket for the day it turns.

  • Shoes, water, sun cover

    The three things that decide whether you last the whole outing or cut it short after an hour.

  • Parking and launches fill early

    On a nice weekend, lots and trailheads are often full by mid-morning.

  • Daylight shrinks in shoulder season

    Spring and fall visits need an earlier start than the same trip in July.

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.

  • Sport & Outdoor
    Outdoor Adventure

    Alabama Hills

    Free

    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

    Free

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

    13 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • 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

  • Sport & Outdoor
    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

  • Sport & Outdoor
    Iconic

    Sequoia National Park

    $25–$50

    Walk among giant sequoias, stand at the base of the General Sherman Tree and climb the stairway up Moro Rock.

    27 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing
    Outdoor Adventure

    Bishop

    Free

    Eastern Sierra gateway town near Mammoth Lakes with access to hiking, fishing and Bishop Creek Canyon.

    55 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing