Whitney Portal
1Heads up1 fire 41 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 9 of the next 9 nights; a database flag says not open read 15:51 UTC
- A night
- $34From, per site
- Sites
- 4746 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Whitney Portal Campground is in a prime location within the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains - at the base of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States. With hiking trails to Mt. Whitney and the John Muir Wilderness less than a mile away, the campground is a popular home base for hikers, as well as family, RV and tent campers who wish to explore the area's activities and enjoy unparalleled scenery. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers are drawn to the majestic scenery and challenging trails of the Whitney Portal recreation area. Nearby trails lead into the John Muir Wilderness and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. The campground is only 0.5 miles from trailheads to Mt. Whitney, Meysan Lake and other popular destinations. Visitors should be aware that hiking in this area may require a permit. Visitors can also hike, fish and picnic in the area around the campground. There are numerous lakes, streams and a small pond in the area for trout fishing.
Facilities
The campground is adjacent to Whitney Creek and just down the road from Trailhead Campground. Numerous campsites are arranged on either side of the creek, including three group camping areas and several tent-only sites. Paved roads, vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Bears frequent the area, and campers are required to use the bear-proof food storage lockers provided in the facility (all supplies must fit; dimensions are 18 inches high, 18 inches deep and 50 inches long). Firewood is available for purchase on-site, and a small convenience store with showers is nearby.
Natural Features
The facility is situated in a thick pine forest at an elevation of 8,000 ft. Campers can see striking views of the rugged granite peaks surrounding it. The area is home to abundant wildlife, including black bear, mountain lions, mule deer, pine martin, pika and many species of fish and birds. This campground is especially prone to bear activity. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (602) 726-1102.
Nearby Attractions
Campers can enter the John Muir Wilderness, a land of lofty snow-capped mountains, deep canyons and vast expanses of glacially carved terrain, via nearby trails. Mt. Whitney is within the wilderness area and entry is available by lottery for experienced hikers. John Muir Wilderness
What the agency tells you
This campground will only accommodate small trailers and RV's.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers; fine up to $150 for campers who do not comply; remove all food from area after eating; do not leave food, trash or scented items in car; always keep a clean camp and do not feed any wild animals
No RV dump station; no filling of holding tanks from water hydrants
Everything else this campground posts · 7
No motor homes, trailers, buses or campers permitted in the parking lot
Two pets per site and leashed at all times.
Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per tent site. One vehicle per single site is included with your reservation. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground if you did not pay for an Extra Vehicle Add On. Extra vehicles must fit on the parking spur at the site.
Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed.
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect California's forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. For more information visit firewood.ca.gov.
Click here for more information about Inyo National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 47 · 19 tent-only, 1 walk-in, 3 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Paved pads
- 28 of 47
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…several tent-only sites. Paved roads, vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Bears frequent the…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…sites. Paved roads, vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Bears frequent the area, and campers…”
- Bear boxes
- Yes
- Firewood
- Sold here
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 202nd darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 15:51 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 42 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 28 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 15:51 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $34 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:51 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
47 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 29 mapped sitesAll 47 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 29 of the 47 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 47 of the 47 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| PORT | G1 | group tent only area nonelectric | 132 ft | 65 ft | 396 ft | $95 | |
| PORT | G2 | group tent only area nonelectric | 104 ft | 103 ft | 264 ft | $95 | |
| PORT | G3 | group tent only area nonelectric | 104 ft | 171 ft | 183 ft | $95 | |
| WHIT | 001 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 140 ft | 105 ft | 41 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 002 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 003 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 140 ft | 97 ft | 175 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 004 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 126 ft | 30 ft | 215 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 126 ft | 48 ft | 284 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 117 ft | 116 ft | 319 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 117 ft | 159 ft | 202 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 010 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 79 ft | 135 ft | 109 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 116 ft | 296 ft | 77 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 012 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 79 ft | 180 ft | 74 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 014 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 89 ft | 92 ft | 160 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 017 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 80 ft | 59 ft | 295 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 018 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 019 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 80 ft | 139 ft | 288 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 020 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 021 | tent only nonelectric | 82 ft | 211 ft | 243 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 022 | tent only nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 023 | tent only nonelectric | 98 ft | 279 ft | 151 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 024 | tent only nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 025 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 58 ft | 123 ft | 237 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 026 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 027 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 58 ft | 181 ft | 198 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 028 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 029 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 79 ft | 202 ft | 127 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 030 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 031 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 137 ft | 247 ft | 125 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 032 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 033 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 137 ft | 152 ft | 146 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 034 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 035 | type not stated | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 036 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 037 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 153 ft | 243 ft | 210 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 038 | standard nonelectric | 16 ft | $34 | |||
| WHIT | 039 | tent only nonelectric | 72 ft | 124 ft | 290 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 040 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 72 ft | 90 ft | 229 ft | $34 |
| WHIT | 041 | tent only nonelectric | 101 ft | 109 ft | 107 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 042 | tent only nonelectric | 92 ft | 176 ft | 207 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 043 | tent only nonelectric | 110 ft | 47 ft | 199 ft | $34 | |
| WHIT | 044 | walk to | 101 ft | 118 ft | 41 ft | $34 |
25 of 47 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lone PineInyo National Forest · 2.6 mi
Tuttle Creek CampgroundBishop Field Office · 6.0 miCottonwood Lakes Walk in CampgroundInyo National Forest · 10 miCottonwood Pass Walk in CampgroundInyo National Forest · 10 mi
Grays MeadowsInyo National Forest · 13 miFrom U.S. Highway 395 in California, travel to the town of Lone Pine. The campground is 13 miles west of Lone Pine on Whitney Portal Road.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lone Pine, CA
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Whitney Portal is in California’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Kevin Kiley (I), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyKevin KileyU.S. Representative · California’s 3rd district
No contact form we could verify, so that link is their own site. Contact is inside it. Washington office: 202-225-2523.
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Whitney Portal, Inyo National Forest, California
Dear Kevin Kiley, I’m a constituent in California’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Whitney Portal, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 46 of the 47 campsites the agency files at Whitney Portal, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 42 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Whitney Portal keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Whitney Portal. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Whitney Portal (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Whitney Portal, Inyo National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Whitney Portal, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 46 of the 47 campsites the agency files at Whitney Portal, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 42 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Whitney Portal keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Whitney Portal. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Whitney Portal (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Whitney Portal, Inyo National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Whitney Portal, Inyo National Forest, California, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 46 of the 47 campsites the agency files at Whitney Portal, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 42 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Whitney Portal keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Whitney Portal. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Whitney Portal (Inyo National Forest, California) via campanac.com