Overview with best arrangement for a 9 day, 8 night trip:
All information presented here is based on 4 trips in 2002/3

Day 1, 12 miles, 1900' up, some down:
Start at Crescent Meadow in Giant Forest, near Lodgepole. On the final segment of the drive to the trailhead there's spectacular Giant Sequoias flanking the road, but once embarked on foot you will curiously see only one more before leaving their habitat for good.
This day deals with a long rising traverse of the south facing wall of the huge canyon containing the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River (remember that name, Kaweah. It will pop up again and again). This 11 mile hike to the camp at Bearpaw is not only hot but also involving more ups and downs than expected. A grunt for sure, featuring the heaviest packs of the trip. Bearpaw, to top it off, is also the only unattractive campsite along the way.

Day 2, 4 miles, 1000' up:
Short, easy. Stroll up to Hamilton Lake, via spectacular trails cut into sheer walls, across hanging bridges and past waterfalls and huge granite domes. The area is called Valhalla, throne room of the Norse Gods. Then go for a swim after selecting one of many awesome campsites at the lake.

Day 3, 7.5 miles, 2400' up, 1200' down:
Back to business, with a crossing of the Great Western Divide by way of Kaweah Gap. Above timberline for the entire ascent, the trail is weaving an improbable route out of the Valhalla cirque to the 10700 high pass. It is never very steep, but long and sustained. On the way is Precipice Lake, the subject of a well known Ansel Adams photograph.
Kaweah Gap is not one of the most spectacular divides I've been on, and after the splendor of Valhalla, downright anticlimactic. But it sets the tone for the Big Arroyo. This immense high mountain valley is quiet and peaceful, with sweeping vistas and, for a slight dramatic effect, the Kaweah range poised on the northeast flank. A gentle descent takes you to the Big Arroyo campsite, which is all good.

Day 4, 14 miles, 1000' up, 3800' down:
One of the longest segments.We will climb out of the BA to the vast Chagoopa Plateau, where endless, sandy miles lead through dry Foxtail Pine forest. A sudden green meadow somewhere along the way provides a great view of nearby Mt. Kaweah and a cool creek to soothe aching feet. You better do this in fact, because much remain. At the edge of the plateau starts the brutal descent into the Kern River Trench, a seemingly endless, jolting drop of some 3500 feet.
Finally down, there's just a few more miles of riverside trail to the big bonus reward: Kern Hotspring, an undeveloped, remote one person concrete tub with 105 degree water, surrounded by campsites. A spectacular and varied day.

Day 5, 7.5 miles, 1200' up:
Every one of my Trans Sierra suggestions shown here include a let-down etape of boring slogging. Day 5 is the one on the HST. 8 miles of unchanging, nearly flat riverside hiking takes you to Junction Meadow, a camp like the previous, but not blessed with a hotspring.

Day 6, 9 miles, 3000' up, 300' down:
Ah, the fresh, crisp air of the high mountains. Let's get back up there from this claustrophobic, hot, snake infested canyon. The climb start immediately, and what a climb! A few hours of work in the cool morning hours should suffice to get you to the junction with the John Muir Trail at Wallace Creek. This also signal an end to the relative solitude of the middle portion of the HST. After Wallace more ascending lead to an indistinct saddle, followed shortly by the first view of Mt. Whitney (unless you were especially observant at a certain spot back on the Chagoopa Plateau). Mere minutes bring you to the Ranger Station at Crabtree, where this day's ordeal ends.

Day 7, 3 miles, 850' up:
Take the morning off, because the short jaunt to desolate Guitar Lake will only take a few hours. No need to arrive too early at this shadeless, exposed body of water under the south west flank of Mt. Whitney, where the camps are on rock slabs and brown eroded grass. Neat spot though, once the sun gets low in the sky. If a thunderstorm pattern has set in, delay even further and arrive after dinnertime, when most Sierra thunderheads have blown themselves to pieces. Because you don't want to be up here in a lightning event.

Day 8, 13 miles, 3000' up, 4000' down:
The big one. If you posses any kind of mountain sense, get up at 2 AM, and leave no later than 3. With a thunderstorm pattern in place or stragglers in you party, even earlier. Climbing a high peak (in our case the highest in the lower 48) is something that stirs a certain uneasiness in me, even if it is just a walk-up like this one. An early start is the alpinists traditional first line of defense in a hostile environment full of challenges. What might appear like an over cautious notion, is in reality the ingrained method of mountain folks through generations.
So get all your stuff together in the wee hours of the morn and hump it up to Trail Crest at 13500'. Here in the windy cold of high altitude is the spot to drop the pack and get a few things together for the summit bid. Water, snacks and layers with windshell is the minimum. It is a 4 mile roundtrip with 1000' of gain to reach Mt Whitney from Trail Crest. In deteriorating conditions (read: too late of a start), opt out and continue down the east side of the mountain.
After the glorious moments on top head on down, through the hordes of sickly looking day trippers coming up from the Portal. Two options for camping exists in the heavily regulated Whitney zone: Trail Camp, 12000' and Outpost, way down in the woods. Weather and burgeoning AMS will dictate the choice. Personally I always taken the group down to Outpost. A third possibility for the extremely antsy is to head all the way to the trailhead this afternoon.
There's no water between Guitar and Trail Camp, a considerable stretch.

Day 9, 3.5 miles, 2000' down:
An easy walk leads to Whitney Portal and souvenirs, pancake breakfast, showers, beer and hopefully some sort of ride back to wherever you came from.