How to Get a Mt. Whitney Permit in 2025: Understanding the Permit & Lottery Process for Day Hiking and Backpacking the Whitney Area

How to Get a Mt. Whitney Permit: Understanding the Permit & Lottery Process for Day Hiking and Backpacking the Whitney Area | Mount Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48 states, which makes it a very popular peak to hike and climb. Due to its popularity, there is a very structured permit process, and this post covers everything you need to know about grabbing Mount Whitney permits so you can plan your hike up this epic California peak. | shedreamsofalpine.com

15 Reasons I’m Excited to Hike the John Muir Trail

15 Reasons I’m Excited to Hike the John Muir Trail | Hiking the JMT has been a long-time dream of mine ever since I went on my very first backpacking trip up Half Dome in Yosemite. Before I officially hit the trail, I wanted to share with you my top reasons for being excited to hike the JMT. These are largely personal reasons, and I hope you enjoy getting to see a little bit more into my world, what drives me, and what I’m passionate about. | shedreamsofalpine.com

38 Miles Backpacking Lyell Canyon in Tuolumne to Devil's Postpile in Mammoth Lakes California

It's funny when you plan out a backpacking trip, you search the internet for details to make an overall plan and trip itinerary. You get your daily mileage and ascent all scheduled out, and you start to think that only bad weather can throw a wrench in your plan. However, over time, I've learned that I should always anticipate about +/- 5 extra miles to what I read online. That was definitely the case with this trail from Lyell Canyon to Devil's Postpile. All my research (reading online trip reports) led me to believe this trail would be about 31 miles and only 4,100 feet of total gain, and so that seemed like an easy 10 miles per day trip. We were slightly surprised when we found that the trail was actually about 38 miles and 5,000' of gain, and had to make up some extra miles in day 2 and day 3. It still was an excellent trip, and very doable in 3 days.

Winter Ascent Mountaineers Route to Mount Whitney, Highest Peak in the Lower 48

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Such is Mount Whitney. This mountain challenged me so much, that it has taken a little over a week now for me to spend energy writing about it. I literally took all of last week off to be lazy and even went to Vegas this past weekend for a complete change of pace.