Tent & Tree
Cancellations / Permits
Mt. Whitney permit cancellations
After the lottery, the only way a sold-out Mt. Whitney date opens up is someone giving their space back. We check Recreation.gov's Whitney calendar about every 10 minutes and log every space that comes back.
Open on Recreation.gov right now
The quota season is over, so we aren't checking. The calendar fills again from the lottery, and the ledger picks up when the season's unclaimed dates go on sale.
Spaces we've seen come back
Since October 1, 848 times a date's count went up between two of our checks, 1671 spaces in all, typically 5 days before the entry date. Mt. Whitney Day Use (All Routes): 941 spaces; Mt. Whitney Trail (Overnight): 730 spaces. Half of the 730 that were booked again went within 90 minutes, and 278 within the hour.
| Entry date | Permit | Spaces | Came back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri Oct 30 | Day Use (All Routes) | 1 | Oct 24, 9:04 p.m. | gone within 1647 min |
| Sun Nov 1 | Trail (Overnight) | 2 | Oct 24, 7:21 p.m. | unclaimed until the date arrived |
| Wed Oct 28 | Trail (Overnight) | 1 | Oct 24, 6:15 p.m. | gone within 1821 min |
| Fri Oct 30 | Trail (Overnight) | 2 | Oct 24, 6:15 p.m. | unclaimed until the date arrived |
| Sun Nov 1 | Trail (Overnight) | 2 | Oct 24, 5:40 p.m. | unclaimed until the date arrived |
| Wed Oct 28 | Trail (Overnight) | 1 | Oct 24, 5:30 p.m. | gone within 1861 min |
| Sun Nov 1 | Trail (Overnight) | 2 | Oct 24, 4:39 p.m. | gone within 61 min |
| Tue Oct 27 | Trail (Overnight) | 2 | Oct 24, 4:29 p.m. | gone within 51 min |
| Wed Oct 28 | Day Use (All Routes) | 1 | Oct 24, 4:19 p.m. | unclaimed until the date arrived |
| Wed Oct 28 | Day Use (All Routes) | 1 | Oct 24, 3:43 p.m. | gone within 21 min |
| Thu Oct 29 | Day Use (All Routes) | 3 | Oct 24, 3:22 p.m. | unclaimed until the date arrived |
| Mon Oct 26 | Day Use (All Routes) | 2 | Oct 24, 2:31 p.m. | gone within 256 min |
Times are our check times, Pacific, so they're bounds: "gone within" runs from the check before the spaces came back to the first check that found them gone. Spaces that come back and go again between two checks never show up, so these counts are floors.
How spaces come back
- Cancellations. The Forest Service says cancelled quota goes back on the reservation calendar within 24 hours, so a space can reappear up to a day after someone cancels. There are no refunds on Whitney permits, so cancelling doesn't get anyone their money back.
- Smaller groups. A leader can cut their group size online (again, no refund). Each person dropped is a space on that date.
- No-shows. A permit that isn't printed (or checked in at the Eastern Sierra Visitor Center) by noon the day before entry for Day Use, or 10 a.m. on the entry date for Overnight, is cancelled. Recreation.gov doesn't say whether those spaces go back online.
From the Mt. Whitney permit page on Recreation.gov and the Inyo National Forest's wilderness permits page, read September 30, 2026. The lottery and the unclaimed-date release are in our Whitney permit guide.