Here we go again…
Making people take a day off from work, drive several hours, and stand in line at 11:00 AM for a permit that may already be gone is just stupid. All permits should be available online. Period. If COVID-19 safety restrictions allow it, go ahead and book your permit in person. Reserve your permit in person six months in advance, for all I care. You can re-read my posts. I never said they shouldn’t issue walk-up permits. I just oppose making permits unavailable online so that locals and a few others have a corner on the market for 40% of the permits.
I have not personally booked a walk-up permit since 2014. In 2019, I had a permit for Observation Peak and Scylla with my friend, Chris. Chris’s wife, Kassandra, and my friend, Amin, wanted to join the trip. Chris and Kassandra drove across the Sierra the day before to pick up the permit at 11:00 AM. If they hadn’t gotten the permit, Kassandra would have had to drive back to the bay area. Amin would have had to drive back to San Diego. And Kassandra would have had to drive across again to pick up Chris five days later. There is really no justification for this insanity.
This is the 21st century. Everybody does everything online. I manage my finances, pay my bills, do 90% of my shopping, applied for Social Security and Medicare, book medical appointments (including both COVID-19 vaccinations), file my taxes, create maps for my trips, and, yes, apply for permits and book campsites on recreation.gov.
Before COVID-19, you could pick up reserved and walk-up permits for Inyo National Forest in Lee Vining, Mammoth, Bishop, or Lone Pine. You could take your pick, except that Whitney permits were available in Lone Pine only. Once COVID-19 is better under control, I think they will issue permits in person again. Everybody reading this post obviously has internet access and knows how to use it. If you really don’t want to book permits online, feel free to stand in line for a walk-up permit. Just don’t lobby to make those permits unavailable to the rest of us. | 
