I have updated the above to reflect that you can enter up to 15 choices rather than 10 on each application.

Also, this is IMPORTANT: If the website pops up a request for your opinion on the site, please take the opportunity to comment. And ALWAYS write something like this:

We need to be able to enter a RANGE OF DATES on every choice in the Mt Whitney Lottery.

I got an update from Inyo N.F. staff:



Looks like things are cookin' on Recreation.gov!

Used it myself this afternoon, no significant bugs, had everything entered and paid for in under 10 minutes. Although I'll miss thinking of Cindy and the leaf blower in the stairwell!

Feb 02: 1875 Applications entered.

Suggestions on permit for Mountaineers Route? Is it in the Lottery or not?

> Suggestions on permit for Mountaineers Route? Is it in the Lottery or not?

It's both:

If you day hike the MR, you need a "DAY USE of Mt. Whitney Zone" permit, the same as the Main Trail. Some places on the website they add "All Routes" to its title. Enter the lottery to get one of those permits.

Or, if you are backpacking -- spending one or more nights -- then it is NOT in the lottery. You start with the Inyo National Forest - Wilderness Permits link, select the "North Fork of Lone Pine Creek - JM34" as the Trail. When you do that, you have to decide: overnight/cross country, and Visiting/Exiting-(or none)-Mt. Whitney (See explanation of those choices here)

For the overnight MR, the quota is 4 walk-in, 6 reservable up to 6 months in advance, and NOT in the lottery.

Incidentally, I believe the 6 reservable become available at 9 PM here in Cali, since the Recreation.gov site runs on Eastern time. Checking the north fork permits, I see 5 are already gone for that day that came available just several hours ago.

This is the first year that my wife and I are applying for a Mt. Whitney permit, and I have a couple of questions. I was thinking of having each of us apply separately, so that we will have 30 days total picked. I realize that we will have to each pay the $6 online fee. If we both get drawn, can we then just cancel one of the permits right off the bat, or do we have to each pay the $15 fee, and turn in the one we don't want to use? I'm not sure how that would be done.
Also, is our applying separately a good strategy, or is there a better way to insure that we get drawn for any of our days?
Thanks in advance for your advice.

It doesn't matter whether you put in two applications or you and your wife each put in one -- your chances are the same. (It is the Half Dome permits that are rejected if someone applies more than once.)

If your two applications both are successful, you will be charged twice, and it is non-refundable. Your credit card info is collected with your applications to use immediately once your lottery slot is successful. You won't get a chance to cancel before the charge is made.

If people were allowed to cancel with a refund, many would be putting in a lot more applications.

Thanks for clearing that up for me! How do you cancel one of them if I were to get two? Thanks again!

Canceling is pretty easy.

Go to www.Recreation.gov, and click on My Account or Log-In. (They both bring up the Member Log-In window). And sign in.

You will get an Account Overview page, and on the left some choices. Two of the choices are:

• Current Reservations
• Lottery Applications

By the way, the Lottery Applications... Detail will give you a printable page of the choices you entered on your application.

Once you get a successful reservation in the lottery, it will appear under the Current Reservations link. If you go to Current Reservations... Detail, it gives you the choice to Cancel Reservation.

I am confused. You can cancel your reservation, but there are no refunds?

It is pretty simple: There ARE NO refunds. Whether you cancel or not.

It is certainly helpful to the hiking community to cancel, so others can get the permit and plan for the hike.

But understand... if you were allowed to cancel and get a refund, then we would have a huge over-application issue -- lots and lots of people entering lots of applications at $6 a pop, Then they might possibly snag more than one successful date to hike. And then they would cancel all but one of their dates.

In the end, the only winners are the people at recreation.gov, who get to keep all those $6 application fees. As for the hiking community, we have the same number of hikers actually hiking.

Hmmmm..... The River lotteries allow cancellations and refunds (actually give you a chance to cancel the reservation BEFORE they charge the fee for the permit), except for the $6 application. THAT is likely a big reason there is a 20% success rate.

The Whitney lottery had more of a 50% success rate in the past -- but that was where people could ask for lots and lots of dates on a single application.

Here's an update:

If you did not enter your credit card info correctly, or possibly your cc number changes before the lottery is run, the recreation.gov people will call. But they don't give much time to respond -- like maybe one day.

So right after the lottery is run, people should check their phone messages closely. ...or check their CC charges to see if they got a slot. The charges may show up before you are notified, but I am not sure.

Thanks that makes sense.

I wonder how being limited to 10 dates will affect the lottery. Last year I put about 50 dates on my application. Seems like this year you have to make a choice between your top choice or dates that you are more likely to win. Maybe a lot more failed applications?

It may open up the playing field a little bit, perhaps. Hard to say.

CaT

Inyo staff tells me ~4100 applications have been submitted so far, which is on par with last year's paper lottery at this point. (However, last year, people needed to get their permits in by Feb 15, when processing began, to get the best chance of winning a slot.)

I forgot about that. I felt better when I was in the dark. Thanks Steve!

I used the registration system yesterday. Interesting that it said that results would be displayed on the website by March 26th.

I found the experience buggy. I filled in 15 alternate dates. On almost every entry, I had to enter the entrance date twice. Entries frequently disappeared and had to be re-entered. Maybe this was just Mozilla Firefox compatibility issues. Gripes aside, here's hoping the virtual leaf blower picks me . . . .

Brent N

Same here...

I selected Day Use so why did I have to do it for the 15 dates.
I selected the trail so why did I have to do it for the 15 dates.
I believe there was an "exit" trail...really now.
Yes, an error message popped up for "this and that."
Yes, panic set in....OMG I may have to re-do all of this again!

Yes, I prevailed...Now comes March 26...The "Ides" of March?

"The Lottery results will be displayed on the site by Mon Mar 26 2012" "Please visit the site after the lottery execution"

Does anyone else remember having to read the frightening classic,
[The Lottery] by Shirley Jackson? It was about an annual lottery and subsequent execution that happened in a small town due to superstition.

I'm not sure why this was on the required reading list in elementary school but when I read the words Lottery and Execution at the top of my confirmation page,the book and the creepy story was remembered in detail.