What an amazing campground. Let's start by introducing you to ranger Bob is amazing! Gave an intro speech about everything there is to know about the campgrounds. There's zero cell reception up here and even if you use satellite data, it's very spotty. The campground is pretty small, with roughly about 40 sites. Surrounded by tall trees, Mt Whitney, and the creek that falls downstream. Trout is stocked every Thursday, we arrived Monday and we still saw a lot of trout. We managed to catch 2 but these fishes did not bite even when the bait was dangling right in front of their mouth. The is a mama bear that roams the campgrounds especially at night so be careful and lock your car doors! This bear knows how to open car handles and will check every car. There is a bear storage so use it and make sure no food is lying around anywhere. The bear is said to be nice and it will walk away once she grabs what she wants. The elevation is a bit more than 8k. Amazing place, highly recommend. Will definitely come back sooner than later! read more

Whitney Portal Campground - Hiking Near Me - Lone Pine, California

Had an amazing time camping at the portal campground. Campsites are very well located a 2-3 minute drive from the trailhead. Perfect for acclimating at some type of elevation before hitting the trailhead early (especially for single day hikers). Only caution is to bring bug spray or YOU WILL be quickly reminded of why you should have. read more

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Totally worth the drive up to visit and hang out in the day use area. A hidden gorgeous area w views that are breathtaking. Small general store. We didn't camp just a day visit. read more

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Peaceful trailhead. Lush nature all around. Plenty of parking. Need a Whitney permit. The Whitney Portal Store there serves food. Though the store closes 8pm, that restaurant closes a lil sooner. We arrived around 7:45pm and were famished yet too late. I like that there are free WAG bags for grabs at the wooden structure. My car was safely parked there over the weekend. read more

Stayed one night at this campground and it was one of the most beautiful campgrounds I've ever stayed at! Made me feel like I was in Yosemite. Trees were beautiful, mountains were beautiful. I would so stay here again. The campfire pit was deep which was so nice. Always more safe with a deeper pit to contain the flames. Bathrooms were relatively clean. Our campsite unfortunately had a lot of trash left behind. Didn't seem like the campsite was checked upon the previous guests leaving and us arriving (and we didn't arrive until about 6 pm which was hours past check in). Also holy mosquitos. LOTS of mosquitos. I'm talking.... Hundreds. I hear it's a bad year with all the water we got but be prepared. It's scary out there read more

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one of my favorites to camp , hosts is super helpful, friendly, campsites are beautiful. we will try to go every year

This campground is so much fun! GREAT fishing too. There are a lot of boulders to walk around though throughout the campground. It's not flat. Besides that, a beautiful place! read more

Smaller camp sites but overall less sites here. Many camped passing through for PCT. The campsite we had was along a river and made for a great white noise to drown out any campers. It's incredibly close to the trailhead and is fun to hike up to the lake if you don't have a permit. read more

I must say an experience like this is none like no other. You must remember coming from up in the city especially Las Vegas. The camp host are very accommodating gracious understanding most of all helpful. Thank you to the couple who were there every step of the way every minute of the day making an experience that I'll never forget although I didn't climb the summit I did enjoy the pawn the fishing the bears the Chipmunks and also the bluebird which escapes my name but was very a beautiful experience and I do recommend it to everybody to go up there and say hello to be and e the Campos and their dog d and give them the big hug and make sure you say hello from Las Vegas. Thank you to Bobby Emily and their dog Dallas for a wonderful experience I'll never forget bless you read more

Absolutely beautiful, stunning campground! Clean everything! The store is fantastic, but beware, the pancake will feed at least 4 people! The size is real! Awesome staff! A creek, "river," runs through the middle of the camp ground next to the trail that goes to the store. Will definitely be back! read more

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So fun! Took boys up with a few other dads. Fun fishing, beautiful scenery to explore and of course some bears running around at night.

Stumbled upon this campsite on a spontaneous trip with my fiancé in early October. We are passionate about camping/backpacking and have seen MANY campgrounds. This is definitely toward the top of the list. The campsite was incredibly clean and bear friendly. Careful for the nighttime temps during the fall, but the amount of sun- protection from the redwood trees must come in awfully handy in the hot summer! It's a DREAM to find a campground like this one with a running stream cutting through the middle of the site! What a beautiful sound to wake up to, and a magical place to explore-- without even leaving the campsite! Trailheads are located right at the campground, and the bathrooms aren't too bad! Highly highly recommend this location if you can get a reservation. The Ranger told us it is very easy to get walk-up sites (like we did) after Labor Day read more

Whitney Portal Campground - Hiking Near Me - Lone Pine, California

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Watch out for bears. We stayed 3 nights plus one parked at the portal for our ( successful ) same day summit. Every single day people had bears stealing unattended food on tables or backpacks left alone for just a minute. Also a car was smashed as there was food left inside. Plentiful bear boxes. USE THEM. DO NOT LEAVE FOOD ON CARS OR UNATTENDED AT ANY TIME. It's a nice campground. Just be near aware and smart Toilets were a bit gross. Bring a nose plug if you have a strong gag reflex read more

The beauty around the campground is 5+ stars. The reason I gave the campground (CG) 4 stars is because the sites are pretty close to each other and there is no privacy. The bathrooms were plentiful and clean. Water spigots within sight of each other. The sites were clean. The host was nice. You can walk to the Portal Store from my site in the CG (0.8 miles each way); the hiking trail from the CG to the store was decimated in the July quake, so just walk on the road. The campground is treed, plenty of shade, and a river runs through it (if you can snag a site along the river, omg that would be awesome - ohkayyy, it's Lone Pine Creek, but it sounds like a river when the water is rushing). This campground is highly sought after, so reserve early especially if you want more than 2 nights in a row. To RVers, there are tight turns, so make sure your RV can manage. We reserved 2 nights but wanted three nights. I ended up reserving one night at Lone Pine CG, which is a crappy CG when compared with Whitney Portal CG. For our Whitney Day Hike, we drove from the CG to the trailhead at 2am. (Sorry for that Fellow Campers! Except not sorry to the guy whose truck alarm kept blaring every 15 min from midnight til when we drove off. Or to the guy who walked through our campsite because he didn't want to walk an extra 2 minutes on the campground road.) I knew I wasn't going to want to hike an extra 1.6 miles on the road after 22 miles and 6000+ ft of elev gain. Heh. Glad I did. I was right!! So much to do in this area, and this CG is a great place to do it from. read more

Very nice campground at the base of Mt. Whitney. Elevation is nearly 8,000 feet so warm days and cool nights. Drink lots of water! Great stream running through the middle of camp. Very quiet as most people are serious campers and many are there only for one night preparing for the ascent of Mt. Whitney. Camp hosts are fantastic. Running water at spigots but sadly, pit toilets (although they were clean). Lovely hike up to the pond for families with younger kids. Otherwise head to Lone Pine Lake for a good day hike. read more

Whitney Portal Campground - Whitney Portal campground stream - Hiking Near Me - Lone Pine, California

This may be my favorite campground ever. It's only about 20 minutes from Lone Pine, but feels like a different world. The drive up from the valley is beautiful. After spending the day in Death Valley we were relieved to spend the evening in a cool forest at over 8,000 ft. Each campsite has huge boulders, and multiple spots from which to choose to set up your tent. A beautiful creek runs through the center of the campground, and a trail follows it up to the Mt. Whitney trailhead. Compared to sites in Yosemite and Sequoia, this campground is very quiet and peaceful. A ranger told us that there is a lot of bear activity (she said 7 active bears), but we packed up all the food and everything with a scent into the bear locker. I did smell a heavy wet dog scent outside our tent in the middle of the night, which I assume was a bear. Wish we had more time in this beautiful campground. read more

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Best vacation of my life! Beautiful place, clean and you have everything near by. Our camp host was the MAN! He was always there to hello ya out and tell us fun stories. The best! read more

Stayed here in 2018 when we hiked Mt Whitney. Some of the reviews about bears are dead-on. They are not afraid of people at all.... walked right through our campsite like we weren't even there. they really are not interested in people though, just your food. freaked everyone out a little but wasn't really a big deal and i wouldn't hold anyone accountable for that. it's not something that can be/ should be controlled by the park ranger. We're in the wilderness so i'm not sure what people expect. Definitely have to take the food situation seriously. Great place, will be going back here again for sure! read more

Bill Fisher, our camp host, was phenomenal. He came by often to chat and check up on us even though we were settled on the corner campsites. He even taught us about bears and how to deal with them and gave us a couple tips and pointers for fishing in the region. Honestly, he, by himself, made the experience more than worth it. I really enjoyed him, it was exciting to see him swing by. Apart from that, the campsite was beautiful. The creek that ran parallel to our site was amazingly filled with fish. It was cold, refreshing, and generally very relaxing to be next to. The random rain, continuous sound of flowing water, and the slight whistling of the wind against the huge pine trees made me feel as if I were on a real adventure. If you need a break from the city or suburbs, I highly recommend taking a short break here. Seriously --no complaints to be had, highly recommended even as someone who goes camping at least twice a year. Overall a really great experience made better by great people and even better friends. I'll be coming back to Whitney Portal Campground. Thanks Bill! - The Kid With The Green Hair read more

excellent spot for camping. at the top of our list. camp hosts Bob and Emily friendly and outgoing. they take excellent care of the campsites and facilities. some of the cleanest restrooms we have encountered in a Forest Service campground and the camp sites are raked out like a Zen garden! read more

Our ranger was funny, nice and extremely helpful when it came to bear safety. He told us to put all our food in the bear box and to not run away from the bear. Overall it was a great experience. read more

Area is absolutely beautiful. Drive is easy, just 20 minutes off the 395 North. Campsites are all full of trees, lots of shade. You can hear the rush of the creek even when you're not right next to it. We stayed in the first site you come to as you drive into the campgrund--site 42. It was a Wed. in August and no one was in the sites around us. Even with use of bear box and keeping meal within arms reach, bear came within 2-3 feet of my friend and took our trash and remaining dinner. Bear would not be scared away even with yelling and rocks being thrown. We went to find campground host, and the sign on the door said: Don't knock for bears. I can do nothing. In the morning, had conversation with host and he said bear encounters were happening every day, even in daylight. Would not tent camp there again. If you do, keep low-scented food in your hands, immediate trash hidden, finish meals before dark for high visibility, and be extremely careful with toiletries, scented items, etc. read more