High Sierra Topix

Is Inyo still allowing walk-up permits in 2021? If so, are they still doing the system at the Mammoth visitor center where you line up and get a number when they open and then come back after 11 am and they take numbers in order?

Is Inyo still allowing walk-up permits in 2021? If so, are they still doing the system at the Mammoth visitor center where you line up and get a number when they open and then come back after 11 am and they take numbers in order?

No walk-in permits will be issued this season! Everything will be thru recreation.gov, there will be a press release coming, this is from the Mammoth Ranger Station.

Dang. Before I posted I actually looked on the Inyo site and couldn't find anything other than their trail quota PDF which still shows the walk-up quotas for each trail, so I'm glad I asked I was planning (hoping, really) that this was the summer where I was going to be able to spend a good month doing 3 or so trips back to back with only a quick resupply and shower in-between. I can still do that but was really hoping on just heading out when the weather and snowpack looked good.

My first thought is to just start booking a ton of permits and cancel as needed. It feels dirty though as that will then screw others out of permits that I wouldn't be using since they won't go back into a walk-up pool. What is everyone else doing?

SirBC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 7:54 pm My first thought is to just start booking a ton of permits and cancel as needed. It feels dirty though as that will then screw others out of permits that I wouldn't be using since they won't go back into a walk-up pool. What is everyone else doing?

That's the very problem with online permits - there's gotta be a better way!

I don't feel dirty pulling reservations as long as I cancel them if I don't use them.
It is the way it is..
With that said, the reservations should be free and not a cover charge. We didn't set up the system. Kind of like a new tax.

SirBC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 2:19 pm Is Inyo still allowing walk-up permits in 2021? If so, are they still doing the system at the Mammoth visitor center where you line up and get a number when they open and then come back after 11 am and they take numbers in order?

I posted this earlier on another thread then saw this so I am re posting here.
The new "walk in permit" system that comes available 2 weeks prior to a specific date is not free. I went on recreation.gov to check walk in permits for Thursday May 13th, which is 2 weeks from today, and sure enough they are available online but still the same $5/person fee + $6 reservation fee. So now you not only have to reserve your "walk in" last minute overnight trips but you need to pay $11+ for them now. I have a feeling that free walk in permit will now be a thing of the past...

Cannot remember where I actually found this, maybe on the directions I got when I made a reservation, (and not sure I read it right).

When you pay for a reservation, you get a "confirmation" which is NOT the permit. You have to print out your permit. Evidently the system knows when you print. If you do not "print" within a time period (2 days??) it is an assumed cancellation and goes back into the "walk-in" basket. This is to act the same as the old "no show". Is this correct???

The new "walk-in" is NOT a walk-in, but rather a short term reservation. I do not mind paying for my real walk-in; I just want to be able to physically walk in to the office, talk to a real person, and select an available permit right then. I will miss the fellow who gave me all my permits at the Mono visitor center! It is like the loss of an old friend. Sigh.

Wandering Daisy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:39 am I will miss the fellow who gave me all my permits at the Mono visitor center! It is like the loss of an old friend. Sigh.

Me too. And always with at last some helpful advice, combined with a sense of humor.

ditto.

I'm surprised by the number of folks that miss the reservation pickup. I couldn't stand it, myself. Who wants to stand in a line wasting half the morning, when you can be miles up the trail watching a beautiful sunrise. Or, just not dying in the heat on a trail like Taboose. I did the Night Box whenever I could.

A conversation behind me in line one day at Lone Pine summed up my thoughts on permit pickup. "Where are you getting a permit for". "Oh, anywhere is fine with me. I just wasn't expecting f#cking Disneyland".

That said, the online system has its kinks. I definitely relate to the pains of trying to get a permit last minute. Availability is a joke the way it is currently implemented. I'm sure the increasing popularity of the area is not helping, either.

Guess no system is perfect for everybody