Cantare, It's really great that you took the time to call and talk with Cindy regarding the current system. And thanks for such an informative report!
One thing I'd counter:
> However, those 12 remained bookable until well after midnight. I don't see how that's useful, since if you bought a day permit after 5pm you'd have to wait until 8AM the morning of your ascent to pick it up. As we know, 9-10 AM is awfully late to be starting a Whitney dayhike.There ARE hikers who might like to snag a day-use permit just to hike up to Trail Camp and back on the Main Trail, or Upper Boy Scout Lake and back on the Mountaineers Route. So those later-start Day Use permits
should remain available even into the next day!
The same goes for Overnight permits -- People should be able to pick one up even after noon on the entry date, because it is entirely workable to get an evening start, hike to Lone Pine Lake and camp overnight, and then continue on in the morning.
So: I certainly hope those same-day permits start showing up online, too! (I think it's still one of those software glitches that needs work.)
As for calling the
Wilderness Permit number: 760-873-2483 people should know that if they are busy, it will disconnect after ringing about 1 minute. At that point they need to redial and repeat the wait. There is no wait-queue on that phone line.
