High Sierra Topix

I figure I'll add a few technical notes after just having navigated the recreation.gov site for Inyo NF wilderness permits.

First, some gripes. The last time I reserved a permit was in 2015 and the options for entry points were much larger including non-quota'd options. Now some of the old ones get "lumped" onto the nearest trailhead. There was once a seldom used entry point out of Pine Creek for Morgan Pass/Morgan Creek. This happens to be my actual route. Now it gets compressed into the general Pine Creek quota. I had to move my preferred entry day by one to find a day with slots open.

Now for the campsite selection. There is a required box for the first night then optional boxes for the next ones. There a pull-down menu which will not even remotely cover most of the options. For example, there is no pull down option at all for anything up Morgan Creek, you should note that you are not required to use the pull down options (thank goodness) and you can manually type in, which is what I did. At first when I looked at the options it looked as if I had to select from pull-down options in which case I would have had to have lied and said I'd camp at Pine Lake even though I'm going up Morgan Creek. I realized that was absurd so I simply typed in the box (the actual intended destination) and found out that was in fact OK. I must say that the process was more difficult to navigate than it was in 2015, which mirrors the navigational evolution of other federal websites (USGS is a good example). By the way, the Morgan Creek ("Pine Creek") entry was not my original plan but hand was forced by the original Plan A entry of Little Lakes Valley being filled for every day I could see. The upshot was when I thought of this (before going onto the site, but figuring LLV would dead-on-arrival) I realized that Plan B was in fact more interesting than my original Plan A.

For those of us who fumble around on internet reservations, does reserve.gov kick you out after a time period? Or is it very forgiving? Do you have to set up an account before you start? Or does it remember an old account from about 5 years ago? Guess I had better start playing around with it to figure it out.

I think that an account from about 5 years ago would be remembered. I think that you can browse entry points for as long as you want, but when trying to reserve a permit I find that I have to work pretty quickly to get my itinerary completed before it times out. I think the timeout is something like 15 minutes, maybe 10. However, you can rough out your itinerary and go back to refine it later by modifying the issued permit.

Wandering Daisy wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 4:36 pm For those of us who fumble around on internet reservations, does reserve.gov kick you out after a time period? Or is it very forgiving? Do you have to set up an account before you start? Or does it remember an old account from about 5 years ago? Guess I had better start playing around with it to figure it out.

I still had my account but they wouldn't honor my old password (last used the site about 3 years ago) so I had to change it. They do time out but they gave me a warning that allowed me to get a 5 min extension. Then when I went to whatever the next step they added more time on the clock. Nonetheless, to be sure I suggest having itineraries for Plan A and alternatives handy when you start the process.

giantbrookie wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 3:24 pm At first when I looked at the options it looked as if I had to select from pull-down options in which case I would have had to have lied and said I'd camp at Pine Lake even though I'm going up Morgan Creek. I realized that was absurd so I simply typed in the box (the actual intended destination) and found out that was in fact OK. I must say that the process was more difficult to navigate than it was in 2015, which mirrors the navigational evolution of other federal websites (USGS is a good example). By the way, the Morgan Creek ("Pine Creek") entry was not my original plan but hand was forced by the original Plan A entry of Little Lakes Valley being filled for every day I could see.

You're probably already aware of this, but just in case you're not, the Morgan Pass mining road is badly washed out in a few places. It looks like it's possible to get around the washouts, but it might not be all that enjoyable with a full pack:
http://www.drdirtbag.com/2019/10/05/lit ... h-pyramid/
Or maybe I just have a different idea of fun than geologists do

druid wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:35 pm You're probably already aware of this, but just in case you're not, the Morgan Pass mining road is badly washed out in a few places. It looks like it's possible to get around the washouts, but it might not be all that enjoyable with a full pack:
http://www.drdirtbag.com/2019/10/05/lit ... h-pyramid/
Or maybe I just have a different idea of fun than geologists do

I have heard of the wash outs, but this trip is planned as a primarily off trail trip, so those wash outs will serve as getting into the off trail groove. The "official" off trail backpacking odyssey begins when we depart the old mining road for Bear Lake after which we won't really be doing on-trail hiking until the end of day 8 (thus only the beginning of day 1 and the end of day 8 will be on trail).

Anyhow this amplifies some of the issues with the entry points currently offered for Inyo NF wilderness permits. A seldom-used (for good reason) unmaintained track such as Morgan Creek/Pass is lumped in with the moderately popular Pine Creek trunk trail.

It will be interesting to see with wilderness permits being hard to get in person how it all shakes out this year. I have followed different trip wanderings than my permit camping locations on different occasions. It most likely won't make a difference if you don't run into a permit enforcer. Less popular areas don't have much risk, and I have never been asked.Will there even be rangers interacting with the public this year in the less popular areas?

In my opinion, given the mess this year, you would be well within the "spirit" of the quota system if not exactly where the permit says. I won't tell!

Exactly! I remember when the wilderness permit was first implemented. Remember those days- free, no problems,they said, this is just to help us manage the wilderness. Please co-operate with us, they said, it is not that big of a deal, etc; etc; I did not believe them then, and I have no reason to think that it will ever get better, only more regulated, and more hassle and restrictions. And I am by nature an optimist, not a pessimist!

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