Lots of great advice here ! Thanks for the tag
@spartana First thing I support is avoiding Yosemite, do that is the shoulder season as it is more enjoyable and the crowds aren't there.
Yes to Toulumne Meadows, stunning there.
First thing, are you a hiker scrambler or climber?
The standard Whitney route is a hike, but as mentioned if you are doing it in a day you need to have experience and conditioning at pushing yourself that hard. Totally doable but you need to be prepared, I saw someone mention conditioning yourself to the altitude, yes to this so consider summiting a minor peak or two elsewhere prior to this day if you can.
If you are a hiker I might suggest doing this as your itinerary for conditioning
Day 1 - hike up Mt Dana and down, park for free with no park pass required just prior to the Yosemite Park gates
Day 2 - hike up the class 2 route for Mt Conness from Toulumne Meadows.
Day 3 - drive to Lonepine, eat and enjoy a recovery day (get your permit) and camp for free in Alabama Hills
Day 4 - drive up early to Whitney Portal and crush the standard hiking route up Whitney, good luck!
For my trip.... 2nd week of September
Day 1 run up Dana as our first day conditioning and then camped at Saddlebag Lake (free and slept in car)
Day 2 day tripped and climbed the North Ridge of Mt Conness
Day 3 drive to Lonepine and we won the morning lottery for Whitney and camped in Alabama Hills
Day 4 parked at Whitney Portal and headed up trail, took NorthFork route and camped at Upper Boy Scout Lake
Day 5 scrambled Mt Russell via East Ridge , return to camp at Upper Boy Scout for Whitney next day
Day 6 turned around on attempt of Whitney via Mountaineers Route due to lightning storm and extreme winds, hike out
Day 7 crushed a day hike and scramble Mt Emerson via South Slopes (not a single person on mountain)
Whitney would be epic but man Mt Russell is badass, there were 4 people total at camped out near us and ran into 6 people total on the trail from Whitney Portal. Mt Emerson was the only camping we paid for as a way to be able to park at the trailhead for Piute Pass, otherwise you need to park in the hiking designated spot which adds a bunch of distance to your hike.
Mt Dana 13,061 feet
Mt Conness 12,590 feet
Mt Russell 14,094 feet
Mt Emerson 13,225 feet
@zoltani the permit for Upper Boy Scout is different than the one for Whitney but with it you are allowed to do Whitney via the Mountaineers route or any of the face climbs. East Russell is the shit ! so good