Mount Whitney
Lone Pine / Inyo National Forest · near Lone Pine · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- expert
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 22 miles
- Elevation gain
- 6,100 ft
- Time needed
- day · overnight
- Best season
- Mid-June–late September · Snow can persist on the trail into July in heavy years
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- Permit REQUIRED — Lottery. Apply February 1–March 1 on Recreation.gov ($6/entry + $15/person for Mt. Whitney zone). Day hikers and overnight hikers both need a permit from the same lottery. Unclaimed permits released April 21. Fee: $6 entry + $15/person.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 5 of 5
What is here
- Features
- 14,505 ft summit — highest point in the lower 48 states · 99 switchbacks (actual count) on the summit approach · Trail Crest (13,777 ft) — the psychological crux · Whitney Portal at 8,365 ft — 6,100 ft of gain
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- The town of Lone Pine in the Owens Valley is the Whitney Portal base camp — the Museum of Western Film History is here (Alabama Hills, covered in the off-road guide, filmed 400 movies from this location). A Whitney summit day followed by a sunset drive to the Alabama Hills and dinner in Lone Pine covers the Eastern Sierra's best experiences in one long day.
- Nickname
- Highest Peak in the Contiguous United States
The guide
Mount Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous United States at 14,505 feet, and 'technically easy' is the accurate descr…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mount Whitney — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.5786, -118.2923