Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney Lottery 2014

Awesome, always great to see a friendly face

2014 Mt Whitney Lottery Update

April 1, at 7 AM Pacific time   All remaining space becomes available for online web reservations
        No phone reservations
        Acceptance period opens for 30 days -- winners can login and pay the $15 per hiker fee
          for the reservations.
        NOTE:  During April, lottery winners who have not already cancelled their slots may login
          and release their reservations. Those slots become available within 24 hours at random
          times.  Inyo reports that last year, 30% of lottery slots were cancelled by May 1.

April 30   Last day to accept and pay for lottery reservations.
        (closes at midnight Eastern time)
        Note: Last year there were many spaces that went unclaimed.

May 1   Throughout the day, all unclaimed spaces become available at random times.

As Steve points out, for those that have the luxury/flexibility of a few extra days, a permit is virtually assured. For those without that flexibility, the probably is still high that a permit will be obtained. For those who make the trip, and do not get a permit, all is NOT lost. There are plenty of alternatives to Mt. Whitney, that offer spectacular hikes with or without camping. For day hikes there are no permits typically required, and for overnight hikes permits are normally not a problem.

All along hwy 395 there are roads going west that lead to trail heads that lead to magnificent hiking and camping. One web site you might want to check out is: http://www.mammothcityconcierge.com/activities/trail-heads.asp
This web site is a bit out of date, so not all of the information is correct (toilets along the Mt. Whitney Trail), so keep that in mind.

Check it out. Even If you miss Mt. Whitney, you will still not be disappointed.

We're trying to confirm our day hike permits but no luck.
Keep getting this message:
"This permit reservation cannot be processed. Please try again later."

April 1st is when you can confirm

I am excited also, I just want to confirm it!!

I 've been trying to confirm my permit and got message saying that " the permit Reservation can not be processed, please try again later "
Has anyone successfully confirm their reservation yet ?

Mimi: Next Tuesday, April 1!

I'm new to this forum, and was wondering if I'm able to get an overnight permit for a group of 4 if I were to go to the station in the morning itself to pickup around 11am?

I've read some of the discussions here but don't seem to have a clear answer to this, I know you could obtain an unused permit for day hikes but how about the overnight permits? Im planning to hike sometime around May or June possibly a Sunday-Monday hike, whichever dates that are less likely to be full.

Any suggestions which months are the best to score unused overnight permits?

yes i was also turned down....but the dates i pick still have slots............question.......thru all april do i check the site every day or just april 1 for 2 day slots...thanks

Nick N: We have tried to explain it in the Wilderness Permit Options page (link in the Feature Topics box above on the left). Especially read box 6, No-Fee Permit Options. The no-show process works for BOTH overnight and Day Use permits. Only the days and times are slightly different, when the no-shows come available. If you are unsure about anything after reading that, please do ask.

Clarence: Your best chance at picking up permits is at 7 AM April 1 (Pacific Daylight time). Is that 10 AM in Ohio? If you are unsuccessful in that rush, more will come available occasionally during April as more people cancel theirs. And then on May 1, the slots from people who won, but never accepted or cancelled will come available at random times through out the day.

I logged in to check my application status today (march 31st), and got unsuccesful on all my dates. I'm going to login tomorrow at 10am (Eastern Time) to try again, but still I have questions :

#1 : I see unreached quotas on some of the dates I asked, how come ?

#2 : Does Canadians have as much chance as Americans, or they give priority to U.S. resident ?

Sorry if this have been asked before, a link to an answer will be appreciated.

Julie, answering #2: you have the same chances as everyone else. There are no special categories.

#1 I am told it is because people won those slots in the lottery before your application was picked, and then they already logged in and declined them. Next year, I'll grab the numbers right after the lottery runs, and store them. Others were reporting the same issue. Regardless, they will be there for the taking April 1.

Good luck tomorrow. Get onto the system before 10 AM, keep refreshing the screen, and work quickly when they become available.

lovely, I cant check out with my permits

I wonder if the system is just swamped? It says order is not available for processing.

Yeah, they seem to be having major issues. I couldn't check out, either. Just a continual error of:

"The order is not available for processing. Please try again later."

Has anyone actually booked a permit?

I'm in same boat...can't check out.

I called recreation.gov. They said they're aware that something is wrong with the system and "the issue has been escalated."

They said best bet is to just keep trying later.

thanks Dave

Now I can understand how frustrating healthcare.gov must have been.