Whitney Portal (formerly, Hunter Flat and Hunters Camp) is the end of the Whitney Portal road in

Inyo County, California Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is ...

, west of Lone Pine at an elevation of . Whitney Portal is the gateway to

Mount Whitney Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'') is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of . It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tu ...

, the highest point in the contiguous United States; it is the trailhead for the

Mount Whitney Trail The Mount Whitney Trail is a hiking trail that climbs Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States. It starts at Whitney Portal, west of the town of Lone Pine, California. The hike is about round trip, with an elevation gain o ...

. It is also the trailhead for mountaineering routes such as the

East Face (Mount Whitney) The East Face of Mount Whitney is a technical alpine rock climbing route and is featured in '' Fifty Classic Climbs of North America''. Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States. The first ascent was on August 16, 1931, ...

, first climbed in 1931, and the Mountaineer's Route, first climbed by

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

in 1873. Campgrounds, parking lots, bearproof food storage facilities, a store and a restaurant are located at Whitney Portal. The restaurant is known for serving "obscenely large pancakes, one-inch thick and large enough to be a hubcab on a tractor". as well as a variety of burgers, fries and beers.

History

A road reached Whitney Portal in 1936. Previously, the place was called Hunter Flat in honor of William L. Hunter, an Owens Valley pioneer. The road was used in scenes in at least two American feature films, '' High Sierra'' (1941), with

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...

and

Ida Lupino Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, writer, and producer. T ...

, and ''

The Long, Long Trailer ''The Long, Long Trailer'' is a 1954 American Anscocolor road comedy film based on a novel of the same name written by Clinton Twiss in 1951 about a couple who buy a new travel trailer home and spend a year traveling across the United States.''V ...

'' (1954) with

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

and

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer. He played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom ''I Lov ...

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Inyo County, California Owens Valley Sierra Nevada (United States) Unincorporated communities in California Tourist attractions in Inyo County, California