IOW, I'm pretty confident you can waltz right in and grab a same day permit if so inclined.
Just a reminder, this year, there is no
waltzing in and grabbing a permit. You have to go online and reserve and pay for the permit first. The new policy is:
NO Walk-In Permits.As I write this,
recreation.gov shows 11 Day Use permits available for tomorrow, and 5 overnight permits.
It makes sense to reserve the overnight permit today, and show up at the Visitor Center tomorrow to pick it up. For serious day hikers that want to start at Oh-Dark-Thirty, they would need to:
1. reserve the day use permit online
2. call the wilderness permit number and request that the permit be put into the night box.
And all of that requires this to be done before 4:30 PM, since they don't answer the phone after that.
...It's the new way to pick up no-show permits.
