Lone Pine Lake (Whitney Portal)
Whitney Portal, Lone Pine · near Lone Pine · Eastern Sierra
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 5.6 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,900 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Late June–October (Whitney Portal Rd open)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit needed — Lone Pine Lake sits just BELOW the Whitney Zone boundary. Turn around at the lake; continuing toward Trail Crest requires a Whitney Zone permit (the lottery). Dogs OK on the lower trail, not into the Whitney Zone.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Walk the first stretch of the Mt Whitney Trail permit-free · Granite-rimmed lake at ~10,000 ft · Whitney Portal store & waterfall at the start · A taste of the Whitney corridor
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Even this 'easy' version tops out near 10,000 ft — do it as an acclimatization hike. Know the rule: the moment you step past Lone Pine Lake toward the switchbacks, you're in the permit zone and can be cited without a Whitney permit.
The guide
The way to sample the legendary Mt. Whitney Trail without winning the lottery. The first 2.8 miles climb steadily through Jeffr…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lone Pine Lake (Whitney Portal) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.5869, -118.2402