This is a view of the highest point at the top of Mt. Whitney, from another point on the top of the same mountain. In the distance to the east is California's Owens Valley, and the town of Lone Pine where we found a hotel much later this same day.

All of the people in this picture arrived there by the short (12 mile) trail from Whitney Portal, the nearest road. The park service issues a couple hundred permits a day to do this short hike, which means that the permits are extremely hard to get. No problem at all getting a permit to hike to the top of Mt. Whitney starting 211 miles north at Yosemite, like we did! The inset picture is a view from the top, looking west.