Early September Wilderness Permits

[JWreno]

I had two computers open on Recreation.gov at 7AM. One showed available Cottonwood Pass permits. Clicked on book now and the system said none available. Cottonwood Lakes was still open so I grabbed a 4 person permit for Cottonwood Lakes. We may hike the first day to High Lake since we need to do drop of vehicle at exit point first. 2nd day over New Army Pass to Mt Langley summit, back to the Soldier Lake trails and down to Rock Creek for 2nd night.

Mt Langley and Mt Whitney summit will be optional depending on how my brother adjusts to altitude. I hope he spends 2-3 nights in Reno before the hike starts to help him adjust from living in Ohio and give me a chance to sort out his gear since he will be borrowing most of the stuff from us.

I booked the permit for 13 days just to give us flexibility on pace. Plan on exiting over Bishop Pass. We might day hike down to Devils Washbowl from where Palisade Creek meets Middle Fork Kings River.

We did trips out of Cottonwood pass in 2008, 2009 and 2011. I was able to get permits 2-4 weeks out without problems back then.

I hope starting very late August helps us reduce the amount of snow we see over the passes. I hope the heavy snow winter reduces the chance of forest fires canceling our trip.

[ohlol]

We have gone in at Cottonwood pass 2008, 2009 and 2011 with out any problems and made reservations for 2, 5 and 3 people only two weeks in advance.

It's a lot harder now, from my understanding.

Best thing to do is check for availability multiple times per day. Eventually you'll see something. If you only check once a day you are severely limiting your options.

[richlong8]

I used to almost always take an early September trip after Labor Day, and had little issues getting permits. But the last few years with all these fires, that has not worked out well for me. If anyone is like me, I used to reserve more trips than I actually took, because circumstances of life would change at the last minute. I wonder sometimes how many of these reservations are not actually used. I try to go to more obscure out of the way places starting my trip during the week instead of on a Friday or Saturday, but the system is such a huge hassle. I am going to try and take a trip into the Wind River Range this year where I understand the process is nothing like it is out here in the High Sierra.

[JWreno]

I am glad to be starting on August 27th. I think the snow will linger very long this year.

My brother is quite fit but the backpacking experience will be new to him. After considering the altitude, I think we will do 3 relatively easy days to get to Crabtree meadows. The first day will be about 7 miles to High Lake just before New Army Pass and we would be starting later since we have to drive from Reno to South Lake to the Cottonwood pass trailhead. 2nd day will skip Mt Langley and go 9 miles to Rock Creek past the PCT intersection. The 3rd day will be about 7 miles to Crabtree.

If he is doing great on the 1st 3 days, Mt Whitney as a day hike should be easy. If he doesn't want to do Whitney than we will continue north going out over Bishop Pass to South Lake. If he is having a difficulties we have the option of just returning south to the vehicle by way of Cottonwood Pass.

I invited him because he expressed an interest in section hiking the whole PCT. If he likes this trip and wants to continue he can join us over the next 3 years to finish all of the PCT. A trip of 10 or more days should be enough of an backpacking experience for him to know if he wants more. If we finish at South Lake and he doesn't want more after that, he will have experienced some of the finest High Sierra backpacking and views.

We will start next year in August after we are fully retired and hike from South Lake to Yosemite Valley to finish JMT. We would take a break and then come back and hike from Hwy 120 to north of Mt Lassen with several resupplies using a pair of vehicles along the way.

In 2025 we would hike lower elevation parts of southern California very early (late February - March) to avoid heat and lack of water. In the summer we would do the rest of northern California and all of Oregon. After Oregon we would come back into Cottonwood Lakes, hike to top of Mt Langley, hike to Rock Creek and go south on the PCT out of the Sierra until we decide we are done for the season.

In 2026 we would do the rest of the higher elevation sections of southern California in the April-May time frame depending on snow and do all of Washington during the late July - August time frame to finish the PCT at the Canada border.

We will have the advantage of being able to have two vehicles available for resupply and off trail logistics. The flexibility of section hiking to avoid having to hike more mile per day than desired, heavy snow, dangerous water crossings, fire closures, etc... After this summer, the rest of the PCT would be divided into 5 chunks with plenty of time to recover from body wear, excessive weight loss, (brother and spouse, not my problem) and avoid the mental fatigue of doing the same thing for months at a time.

It has been my dream to hike all of the PCT after I retire. A few years ago I decided section hiking in large chunks was more appealing than trying to complete the whole PCT in one season. My wife is exited about section hiking with me and two or three people can do the car shuffle to keep logistics simple. My body will benefit from having extended hike spread out over multiple years. The PCT hiking goal provides exiting motivation to plan for the first few years of retirement. We also play a lot of golf together and take our trailer to dark places for astronomy and day hiking.

[Bishop_Bob]

I wonder sometimes how many of these reservations are not actually used.

I've observed 2 metrics that have changed since roughly the online reservation scheme began: 1) fewer people in the backcountry, and 2) fewer cars at trailhead parking lots. The latter has been especially noticeable on weekend days when, in the past, I was worried about finding a parking place, whereas now, I usually see lots less than half-capacity.

Though it is admittedly anecdotal evidence because it's limited to my own experiences over the past 30 years, these perceptions suggest the rate of unused permits is now very much higher.

This increase in no-shows is also evident at developed campgrounds where sites are all (or predominantly) now reserved online.

[JWreno]

Well a September 3rd permit was easier than an August 27th permit. I successfully reserved a 4 person Cottonwood pass permit today. I canceled my Cottonwood Lakes permit and was refunded $20 out of the $26 dollars for the reservation.

After the snowfall for the last week I decided pushing the trip back a week would be good. I also prefer Cottonwood pass over Cottonwood Lakes.

This will be my latest trip start in the high Sierras. Looking forward to possibly fewer people and bugs. We will probably see some colder nights. I have experienced a very cold front that came in on a 5 night Horseshoe meadows to Onion valley trip in 2009. We had a very windy cold day summiting Whitney. We camp just shy of Forester pass a couple of nights later and our water bottles froze solid. We had some light snow flurries the next morning.

[richlong8]

I had two computers open on Recreation.gov at 7AM. One showed available Cottonwood Pass permits. Clicked on book now and the system said none available. Cottonwood Lakes was still open so I grabbed a 4 person permit for Cottonwood Lakes. We may hike the first day to High Lake since we need to do drop of vehicle at exit point first. 2nd day over New Army Pass to Mt Langley summit, back to the Soldier Lake trails and down to Rock Creek for 2nd night.

Mt Langley and Mt Whitney summit will be optional depending on how my brother adjusts to altitude. I hope he spends 2-3 nights in Reno before the hike starts to help him adjust from living in Ohio and give me a chance to sort out his gear since he will be borrowing most of the stuff from us.

I booked the permit for 13 days just to give us flexibility on pace. Plan on exiting over Bishop Pass. We might day hike down to Devils Washbowl from where Palisade Creek meets Middle Fork Kings River.

We did trips out of Cottonwood pass in 2008, 2009 and 2011. I was able to get permits 2-4 weeks out without problems back then.

I hope starting very late August helps us reduce the amount of snow we see over the passes. I hope the heavy snow winter reduces the chance of forest fires canceling our trip.

I don't know about the fire probability, but if there are snow issues, they will get greater as you head north. The Cottonwood area should not be a problem snow wise. But if you are traveling the major heavy use trails, it should not be that big of a deal traveling August. Off-trail might be more interesting.