Walk up wilderness permits?

[giantbrookie]

I just received the Seki alert that for 2020 wilderness permits will be by reservation only with no walk-up permits. In contrast the verbage on the Inyo and Sierra NF sites states that you can still obtain walk-up permits. Is this indeed the case?

[Lenier]

Why wouldn't it be the case if their website literally says that is the case?

[grampy]

... the verbiage on the Inyo and Sierra NF sites states that you can still obtain walk-up permits. Is this indeed the case?

Actually, that isn’t quite what the Inyo site says;
from the Inyo N.F. website:
“ ... People who have reserved permits can call up to 14 days in advance to have their permit emailed or printed and left in a drop box at the selected visitor center.
The remaining “walk up” permits will be reserved through www.recreation.gov starting up to 14 days in advance of the date of a wilderness trip ... “

Perhaps SEKI will institute something similar (??), but for now they don’t seem to mention the possibility in their announcement.

[TurboHike]

I just received the Seki alert that for 2020 wilderness permits will be by reservation only with no walk-up permits. In contrast the verbage on the Inyo and Sierra NF sites states that you can still obtain walk-up permits. Is this indeed the case?

yes, no walk-ups, reservation only. Link below. Even walk-up trails like the Pear Lake trail can now be reserved.

https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/ ... ermits.htm

[giantbrookie]

... the verbiage on the Inyo and Sierra NF sites states that you can still obtain walk-up permits. Is this indeed the case?

Actually, that isn’t quite what the Inyo site says;
from the Inyo N.F. website:
“ ... People who have reserved permits can call up to 14 days in advance to have their permit emailed or printed and left in a drop box at the selected visitor center.
The remaining “walk up” permits will be reserved through www.recreation.gov starting up to 14 days in advance of the date of a wilderness trip ... “

Perhaps SEKI will institute something similar (??), but for now they don’t seem to mention the possibility in their announcement.

I missed this text in my original read of their web pages. Note that I checked Sierra NF (western JMW, Dinkey, Kaiser, Ansel Adams) and they appear to have a different policy and it also looks like they handle their own reservations rather than doing them through recreation.gov. According to the Sierra NF site it looks to me as if they're still doing walk-up, although perhaps I missed something there.

As for Eldorado (Desolation, for example) it's rather unclear, at least so far as I navigated stuff.

The lack of walk-up for Inyo changed my strategy for 2020. Walk up gives me more spontaneous scheduling flexibility although I have to essentially devote an extra day for the trip (to be there early for walk-up period). The irony of this is that when I reserved today for my biggest 2020 trip I did the same entry I did as a backup for my big 2015 trip. In 2015 it was because I was quota'd out of my first choice (by reservation) but I walked up, cancelled the reserved one for the walk-up one. This time the reserved one uses the same entry point but with a little technical revision (see thread on first day restrictions) but the difference is that it does in fact reflect my preferred entry.

By the way, my little recon of Inyo reservations (JMW/AA east side) indicates that the more popular entries are really booked up. Having Plan A, B, C, D.....X thought out will be very important for east-side entry. Fortunately the High Sierra gives us so many options it's always a win-win scenario.