Inyo Wilderness Permit Gripe

[David_Caruso]

I won a Duck Lake Pass exit Whitney this morning Sunday 2/18 for 8/18 Sunday departure...after losing out for Saturday. Plan on doing two weeks on the JMT SOBO.

All this was on my desktop with two monitors....

What I did and worked...Logged into my account on Recreation.com 15min before 7am PST...got to the table of permit day where you do the day selection (past "Explore available permits")...made sure to have already selected the "overnight exit whitney" and "1 person" etc etc...so at 2 min before 7am...a hit the "previous 5 days"...and that seemed to allow me stay on the page keep all my selections for 1 person and exit whitney without having to refresh right at 7am which makes you take time to re-enter those selections...so then at exactly 7:00:02 seconds (with the world clock on the second monitor)...I next hit "next 5 days" and it slid me over to Sunday 8/18 and there was 15 permits available...in fact I could see all the permits available for all trailheads. But I quickly selected Duck Pass and since it was my account and using Google Chrome I moved to cart check-out.

What a mess...almost as bad as getting concert tickets from Ticketmaster.

[Bishop_Bob]

IWhat a mess...almost as bad as getting concert tickets from Ticketmaster.

And it is biased in favor of the tech-savvy. I know a lot of active, but older, people who have trouble competing in this system.

[TurboHike]

Just wondering if anyone has any tips for success in the Bishop Pass (South Lake) and Paiute Pass areas for a small group using the Rec.gov site.

Here's a few things that might be helpful. These are based on my personal experience.

1. I read online that the recreation.gov site uses the time.gov website as it's official clock. My computer's clock is usually off by a little bit, so I always open time.gov when I'm trying to get an Inyo permit. I refresh my browser right after time.gov goes to 7 am Pacific time.
2. I do not consider a group of 5 to be a "small" group. For Bishop Pass, the quota is 22 for reservations six months in advance. So you're trying to get nearly 25% of the quota with a group of 5. That might take more than one attempt. Choosing a non-weekend day in August can help. I usually hike solo but sometimes my son will go with me. I have never not been able to reserve a permit for 1 or 2 people on my first try.
3. Although all permits might be "gone" by 7:02 am, stay logged in and continue to refresh your browser. I have seen permits become available as late as 7:30 am on the same day. The reason this happens is that a group of (say) 3 people might each by trying to reserve a permit for 3. If two people in the group are successful, the group now has 6 slots reserved, so they exchange emails and coordinate their actions. One person reserves the permit and the other person cancels, freeing up 3 slots. The cancelled permits will show up again in recreation.gov. You and your group can decide if you'd like to employ this strategy... five chances are better than one.
4. If all else fails, consider entering on a less popular trailhead and exiting Bishop Pass for a loop.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

[mkbgdns]

also, when someone books a reservation, it is auto-cancelled in 15 minutes if not completed. 7:16 might be a good time to check back.

[Lumbergh21]

It could be worse; you could be trying for a Yosemite JMT permit, which will cost you $10 for the application whether you get a permit or not.

[SierraMountainSpirit]

Good Morning,

Thanks for the tips. I gave it a try this morning and had the site open ready to go where I needed it at 6:45 am pacific. I kept the site from closing out by going back and forth between 5 days forward and 5 days back. However, even at 7 am and up to 7 03 am, the site still showed 0 for Monday August 19. Not knowing what was going on, I refreshed the browser, and of course I found all Ws on 8/19 for the trailhead. It sounds like this strategy didn't work out for me darn it. I suppose I need to have the optimum time to start out filling the commercial vs non commercial, group size, overnight. 6:45 was too early and all the other applicant went right around me even though I thought I had an open webpage. Maybe its my machine and or the kind of web browser I am using. The refresh button here seems to go back to the very beginning making it hard to get into the site in a timely fashion. Maybe this is where someone who is a good tech person could point me to a bot where I can launch it right at 07:00 and have it put in my information from the start page instead of preloading it myself.

Any help in this would be great.

Sierra

[TurboHike]

Good Morning,

I kept the site from closing out by going back and forth between 5 days forward and 5 days back.

Not knowing what was going on, I refreshed the browser...

Sierra

Going back and forth does nothing, which you have figured out. The browser needs to be refreshed to see the available quota. In my previous post, my point #1, I mentioned refreshing right after time.gov goes to 7 am Pacific. And yes, you need to still input things like date and group size. So does everyone else. Good luck!

[Carrie]

The going back and forth worked for me this morning for a Duck Pass permit, but I had to toggle a few times--it didn't work until about 20 seconds after 7am. (I was using time.gov as my clock.) But maybe that doesn't work on some people's computers, since SierraMountainSpirit wasn't getting anything even at 7:03. The most helpful thing for me was to practice a few times this week before the day I actually wanted, so I knew what strategy would work on my computer. Honestly, though, what probably helped the most was that I was going for a trailhead that was not quite as crazy in demand. I don't really think that people are using bots, but I do think that there's a lot of people all around the country trying for just a few spots.

[Wandering Daisy]

I did not backpack much in the Sierra last year (2023) because I was in Wyoming the entire summer. In 2022 I got most of the permits I needed simply by waiting for the release of "walk-in" or last-minute reservations. That works for me because I am retired, and the exact day is not that important. I am also free to start any trip mid-week. It will be interesting to see if it works this year. I may stuck with trips up George Creek.

I am not quick on the computer. One thing that helped is that I put in the correct first day and then "copy, copy, copy" the same location for the rest of the trip (as long as there is not a limit on stay like they have in Dusy Basin). Then when I get the permit, I go back and revise the permit with the actual planned campsites. Has anyone tested to see your selected night's locations are logical or not?

Some of this year's problems may be that Roads End TH in SEKI is closed, and many backpackers are looking for an east side entry for standard west-side access routes. This is really putting pressure on Inyo permits. Hopefully the road will open later this summer and people can get the SEKI permits they want. Hopefully they will then cancel their Inyo permits.

I like the Yosemite system of lottery for everyone. This puts everyone on equal footing, not favoring the more computer savvy. Since the Whitney Zone is also a lottery, that is another trailhead worth trying for. I have been able to get same-day permits (cancelled reserved permits) from the Lone Pine Inyo NF office in person. Anyone know if this is still done?

[Carrie]

Wandering Daisy, I didn't have to put in any camp locations past my first night--I just left the rest blank and I was able to complete the order. Only the first night had an asterisk by it when I was filling out the form, which is usually used to indicate a required field. When I looked at my permit just now, it just has blanks for my camp locations on the last 4 nights. If I choose "Modify Reservation" it gives me an option to fill in the other nights if I want to. Maybe I'll be required to do that when I print out the permit? Anyway, your method of just putting the same location for all the nights works too. (And maybe some areas with limits on length of stay do require you to fill out each night's camping location?)