Maybe we live in different worlds...longri wrote:... my point. A little over twenty-five years ago I drove to Yosemite Valley on a summer day, went to the wilderness office in the middle of the afternoon, and got a permit to walk the JMT. You can't do that today.
Not from the Valley but from a Tuolumne Meadows TH start, yes you still can obtain walk-up JMT permits - and lots do - daily.
Using the "next day" - be in line at TM Wilderness permit office (not the Valley or anywhere else), good attitude, have a ready backpack, be flexible, and hope strategy... have seen many an early riser be successful, permit-wise... yes, SOBO JMT hikers.
The hopefuls line up early, (dawn-ish?), hoping for that TM JMT permit. With the no shows and the next day quota numbers (6 - 8?), at 11:00, almost all who are there waiting will find themselves hiking out, some that very morning.
I meet them maybe chillin' out for a day TM backpacker, or hanging out at the store/cafe, usually big smiles and getting ready to leave tomorrow morning.
BTW, Talking with the TM Rangers - On many summer weekdays, there are open JMT spots (Donahue and Parker) that go unclaimed daily - never to be used.
just saying -