Mt. San Jacinto Outdoor Recreation

If anyone here has gotten skunked on the lottery in trying to go up Mt. Whitney, may I suggest you go up a couple days before and try for the cancellations? A ranger told me about this a few years ago, and I've done it very successfully 7 times in a row. My brother, nephew, and a couple of friends of theirs had tried the lottery in February and lost out. In casual conversation a few weeks ago, I found out about the situation and suggested we try at the end of August or beginning of September, as the weather is beautiful then. Turns out we went on Labor Day Weekend by accident, but we still got the permits. It only works for dayhikes, but it has been remarkably reliable as a means of securing a permit. Just thought I'd share that.

BTW, the weather right now is so nice that we never had to add or remove a layer all day. I did the whole thing in shorts and a tank top, and never got hot or cold. And, as any of you who have ever done Whitney can attest, it is one beautiful mountain.

Anyway, hit me up or call the ranger if you have any questions, but don't let a miss on the lottery ruin your fun!

z

This has worked for me also. I've never even applied to the lottery, too lazy. As a back up if I didnt get a permit, Langley is a good option and no permit needed!!

How is the water flowing? Particularly in the switch backs?

Dan

The water was ample at all the normal sources. I usually top off at the stream by the mini-meadow about 1/2 mile after trailside meadow, which is 100% reliable, but the spring at the 23rd switchback was flowing freely as well. It's shallow right now, so you'd either have to pump or use a cup to dip in order to fill a bottle or bladder, but there was plenty of cold, delicious water available. It was strange to see many (inaccessible) pockets of snow all over the north face, left over by the snows of early August that are now all melted except for places totally hidden from the sun almost all day long. I'm guessing that storm recharged the spring. BTW, the little fishing pond at the portal looks like it was about 1/4 filled with sand from what I'm guessing was a very strong flow after a monsoonal downpoor some weeks ago. Must have been a wild one!

z

That storm in the first August week was wild. We got stuck in our tent at the portal most of the day. It rained hard. The road was covered with lots of rocks afterwards. All streams were running wild. Several feeding the little pond looked like they were carrying lots of sand/debris.
Had new snow and snowing on peak day beyond Trailcrest. No views, but great experience.

Great tip. I've always avoided Whitney because of the permit hassle. Learned about the walk-in permits only last year. They also put canceled permits back into the computer system. I snatched some permits about 2 weeks before we wanted to go. Have to be fast though, they went quickly. I checked several times a day and just hit buy as soon as I saw one on a suitable date.

Another tip I didn't know about: There are 10 walk in sites ($10) at the portal between the backpacker sites and the group campground. It's a little bit of a walk, but we ended up being the only people there on a weekend while the other campgrounds were full.

I've also heard that is a great way to get permits. There is a list somewhere that shows unused permits. Very rarely is there a day where all of the day hike permits are all used.

We had dayhike permits for 9/8 and like many others, had to turn around due to weather.

A short trip report and photos can be seen here for those that are interested:
Eastern Sierra Trip Report, September 6-8 2014


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