Thanks for that info, Stalin.
I should explain that the "11 AM mini lottery" is a drawing of numbers out of a bucket. Since the no-shows are released at 11 AM, there is usually a larger number of people at the Visitor Center at that time. So they hold the drawing, and process everyone in the order of the numbers drawn.
I was told this drawing and processing sequence includes EVERYONE there, even people picking up reserved permits (for next day entry, for example)
Wait. What? Really? The reservations for the NEXT DAY are put in the daily mini-lottery? After entering the lottery in what February and making reservations and plane tickets and all that, you show up on time the day before to pick up your confirmed and paid permit and you are put in the daily lottery? And could be given to someone else?
That can't be what you mean to say. Why in the world would anyone with a confirmed reservation go in a daily lottery?
Every time I think I understand the Whitney permit system, something changes. When I was at the IAVC last year in mid July it was just nuts. The switches had just cleared from all that snow, and weeks of no-shows and cancellations suddenly turned into lines of walk-ins. I called ahead. No information, "you have to come in. Yes we have cancellations but you have to be here". I walked in. "Why didn't you just call ahead, we always have some cancellations, and could have held them for you?" I stood in line two days in a row. I talked to at least five different rangers from the 3 agencies -- BLM, NPS and NFS -- and I swear, no two people I talked to, including the 5 rangers and the best informed individuals on this board, had the same story on how it worked. I had just been backed off the HST on a permit with a Whitney exit, less than 24 hours off the trail, so I asked about the status of that permit: the SEKI Ranger said it was still good for anywhere on the permit, including the WZ, as long as I reentered within 24 hours reasonably along access to the HST, including WP. The INF Ranger at the next register said "I don't know about that, I'll check, called Mammoth and then said "no way".
In any event, after spending 48 hours on the ground wherever I go, I usually understand the rules pretty well. Except at the Lone Pine IAVC. Its still a mystery.
Is there something, somewhere in one document or one page that explains how it actually works?
