Although this permit policy will effectively halve the number of people allowed to do the final section of the HD trail on weekends and holidays, I predict that many, though certainly not all, of the shut out "other half" will adjust their plans and overflow into the weekdays when possible.

I just re-read the NPS statement, and while it does say that permits will be available online or by calling the stated phone number, it does not say that permits will "only" be available via those two means. Although that is likely implied, the fact that it is not directly stated does leave some wiggle room for interpretation. Don't get me wrong -- a $1.50 reservation charge is a deal compared to Inyo's similar charge. But as a matter of truth in advertising, free permits are not really free if a service charge must be paid to get them. The distinction between the service fee to use the only means available to get the free permit will be lost on most people.

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I think the park service is wise to have the riots over permits be done in cyberspace. Can you imagine the chaos if people had to stand in line to get one of the 300 daily permits? There would be dead people.

Likely true.

CaT

If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.
- Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)