Wilderness Permits 2023

Are you a seasoned hiker, or just starting out? Let us know your questions or experience with the backcountry permit process.

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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by sbosecker »

I just now saw the posts that it had opened early and, muttering several backcountry oaths, frantically went to Rec.gov. It looks like they caught their error as the "Registration Closed" button is still up.

If I "go around" that page and access the "detailed availablity" page, it looks exactly like it did a couple of weeks ago when I first started poking around behind the curtain.

I'm guessing they flushed anything that was entered by you guys but we'll see.

Best regards,

Scott
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by sbosecker »

Well that was less than optimal...

I've got a itinerary but it wasn't what I was hoping for...

GAB
MOL
GLH
GAB

I was hoping to be able to get STO and then catch the Goat Haunt boat to Waterton.

Scott
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by zozeppelin »

Sorry to hear that Scott - how did everyone else fair?


General comments from me:
Anticipated errors did exist (REY/MAN/TWO first night, various dependency errors)

Site was pretty slick and didn’t crash so that is a plus!

Looks like it filters/sorts based on available next sites (dependencies), including those “out of area” so that is great!

1 h early premature start suboptimal

Prime sites were completely gone in a couple minutes (FIF, HOL, STO) as expected.

North fork was indeed blanked out for September. Not sure if one can “walk in” from the east side.
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by paul »

I didn't see it open up early. I was online and hitting refresh every few seconds with 5 minutes to go. It actually didn't open until 10 or 20 seconds after 10am here. However, I was able to get a permit. In my rush to hit book I messed up and forgot to add the last site but I didn't want to go back and chance losing what I had so I went with it.

I got ELH, HEL, COS, GLH, GLH in mid August which isn't bad. But forgot to add COS at the end of it. Oh well.

Didn't anyone have trouble with the vehicle information. I didn't put one in because it will be a rental and don't know in advance the plate and make. But the applciation wouldn't proceed to checkout until I put something it. So I had to make it up.
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by sbosecker »

paul wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:52 am I didn't see it open up early. I was online and hitting refresh every few seconds with 5 minutes to go. It actually didn't open until 10 or 20 seconds after 10am here. However, I was able to get a permit. In my rush to hit book I messed up and forgot to add the last site but I didn't want to go back and chance losing what I had so I went with it.

I got ELH, HEL, COS, GLH, GLH in mid August which isn't bad. But forgot to add COS at the end of it. Oh well.

Didn't anyone have trouble with the vehicle information. I didn't put one in because it will be a rental and don't know in advance the plate and make. But the applciation wouldn't proceed to checkout until I put something it. So I had to make it up.
Paul,

Pretty much what you reported on the slightly late start...

I kept thinking something was wrong with the "Payment" page due to the first entries being "grayed out" (saved info). I may have lost an itinerary I wanted due to that. I went back and putzed around with the site selection pages and then, when I returned to payment, I was getting an error for multiple itineraries that had the same dates. Sigh...

Flushed everything and started over...

Yes, the vehicle reservation was a bit problematic. Stumbling over that ...thenI saw that it instructed me to put "Rental Car" in the fields if it was to be a Rental Car. That didn't work in the request for the license plate state... I put Montana there.

I think I would do better dealing with the Rec.gov now ...if there was anything left. HA!

Best regards,

Scott
Last edited by sbosecker on Wed Mar 15, 2023 9:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by cdsmith379 »

I was able to eek a permit out. I was trying to get a North Circle with a MAN, REY and SPE add on at the end. That was stressful. I was able to get:

FLA
FIF
MOJ
ELH
MAN


I plan to try to get GRN as the first night and maybe MOL as the third night, and add on REY and SPE at the end, when I pick up the permit.
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by sbosecker »

zozeppelin wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:42 am Sorry to hear that Scott - how did everyone else fair?

General comments from me:
...Looks like it filters/sorts based on available next sites (dependencies), including those “out of area” so that is great!...
zozeppelin,

Ahhhh... maybe not great. HA!

That was another thing that flumoxed me...

I was going to try to get GAB - MOL - STO - KOO

I went to Goat Haunt Area and selected STO & KOO for the 3rd and 4th day first. Then I selected Many Glacier Area and was looking for GAB on day one. It wasn't there - due to the "too far" filter I suppose (12.9 miles? - Maybe that wasn't the issue). I'm pretty sure other Many Glacier sites were loaded but GAB wasn't there.

I wasted quite a bit of time trying to figure out what was going on with the absence of GAB in the Many Glacier area.

I guess that's what happens when one tries to trick bleep the system.

Best regards,

Scott
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by zozeppelin »

Hi Scott,
For KOO, COS is the furthest east ‘child’, so GAB or ELF won’t show up. I didn’t do the distance dependency check (ran out of time), I just did a check on dependency consistency (i.e. route ok in one direction but not the other). I’m sure you’ll be able to adjust when you pickup your permit.

One other cool thing is that you can now see the walk-in quantity available ahead of the typical 7 day window- which will be very helpful for planning and setting expectations well in advance (GAB in your example, you can now check if it wasn’t completely taken out by a group permit).
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by zozeppelin »

cdsmith379 wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 9:06 am I was able to eek a permit out. I was trying to get a North Circle with a MAN, REY and SPE add on at the end. That was stressful. I was able to get:

FLA
FIF
MOJ
ELH
MAN


I plan to try to get GRN as the first night and maybe MOL as the third night, and add on REY and SPE at the end, when I pick up the permit.
Nice! MAN to REY was one of the errors. You always have some epic itineraries, that one would be right up there with it.
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by orin »

I made a few mistakes but in the end I got more or less what I wanted. I clicked Book Now on the first itinerary and the button changed properly but nothing else happened. It took me a bit to realize that there was an error message above the itinerary. I had the window sized so I couldn't see it. I ended up with:

GAB
ELH
ELF
COS
GLH
GLH

which is close enough but the itinerary is on 3 separate reservations. So that cost me an extra $20 in fees which is no big deal. It will be interesting to see what happens when I walk into the backcountry office to pick them up. I will probably try to add GAB on the end to make the trip out a bit shorter. Making an addition 6 days out has never been a problem in the past but who knows these days. I plan to take it easy and do a lot of exploring. Dayhikes to Stony Indian pass and Red Gap pass are on the list. And the two nights before the trip starts will be at GPC. Things are shaping up.

And thanks to zozeppelin for making the whole affair a bit easier!
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by paul »

I wonder if you have an existing permit and you try to modify it if you notice a more preferable site becomes available or if you add another night. Will the application mess up what already have? I want to add another night at the end of the permit if it becomes available between now and when I pick up my permit. But I'm concerned that when I hit modify, it might open up the sites that I have to other reservations. Theoretically this should work but who knows what it will do.

Orin,

I was thinking the same thing, it used to be easy to get a walk-up six days into your permit but now there is usually only one walk-up site available. So it decreases your chances.

Paul
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by tibber »

orin wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:36 pm I made a few mistakes but in the end I got more or less what I wanted. I clicked Book Now on the first itinerary and the button changed properly but nothing else happened. It took me a bit to realize that there was an error message above the itinerary. I had the window sized so I couldn't see it. I ended up with:

GAB
ELH
ELF
COS
GLH
GLH

which is close enough but the itinerary is on 3 separate reservations. So that cost me an extra $20 in fees which is no big deal. It will be interesting to see what happens when I walk into the backcountry office to pick them up. I will probably try to add GAB on the end to make the trip out a bit shorter. Making an addition 6 days out has never been a problem in the past but who knows these days. I plan to take it easy and do a lot of exploring. Dayhikes to Stony Indian pass and Red Gap pass are on the list. And the two nights before the trip starts will be at GPC. Things are shaping up.

And thanks to zozeppelin for making the whole affair a bit easier!
Nice Itinerary. What time frame? Hope you get the GAB as otherwise, that's a long way out.

In 2019 Tina and I did ELF ELH GLH GLH COS. We have something similar this year too plus a GPC stay at another time.
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by orin »

Paul & tibber,

Yeah, I would definitely like to add another day. I could add COS instead of GAB which would increase the probabilities a bit. I will keep checking rec.gov too. People will change plans and at least some will cancel reservations which should lead to additional reservable openings just like happens for other accommodations.

The time frame is the last week of June. That increases the probability of bad weather but I won't be fighting smoke and I like the flowers and running water.

I can't answer Pauls's questions about making modifications but I do know from my machinations this morning that you can't create a second reservation that overlaps an earlier one time wise. So I think you do have to delete before you add back. Whether that will be problematic I don't know.

Orin
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by sbosecker »

For those that are interested...

I just posted the contents of an email I received from the Waterton Shoreline Cruise Company in the General Glacier Discussion Forum.

The condensed version: They will be running the boat from Waterton to Goat Haunt again this year.

Scott
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Re: Wilderness Permits 2023

Post by sbosecker »

orin wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:38 pm Paul & tibber,

Yeah, I would definitely like to add another day. I could add COS instead of GAB which would increase the probabilities a bit. I will keep checking rec.gov too. People will change plans and at least some will cancel reservations which should lead to additional reservable openings just like happens for other accommodations.

The time frame is the last week of June. That increases the probability of bad weather but I won't be fighting smoke and I like the flowers and running water.

I can't answer Pauls's questions about making modifications but I do know from my machinations this morning that you can't create a second reservation that overlaps an earlier one time wise. So I think you do have to delete before you add back. Whether that will be problematic I don't know.

Orin
Orin,

It appears that one can modify a reservation...

Go Reservation.gov, log on, and click on your "Profile Icon". (Upper Right on the page: just to the right of the shopping cart and to the left of the "hamburger")

Click on Reservations

If you have more than one reservation, click "Reservation Details" on the one you want to modify.

This will bring up information on that reservation. On the right side of the screen you should see some buttons below the invoice total. Click on Modify Reservation.

This brings up a page with all the administrative details of your reservation. There is a horizontal light blue bar somewhat near the top of this page. Inside this bar, on the left side, is printed "Glacier National Park Wilderness Permits". Following inside the bar to the right is "Modify Trip Itinerary".

Click on "Modify Trip Itinerary"

This takes you to your reserved itinerary.

Now you appear to be somewhere where you can probably do some damage if you're not careful.

How one changes things without goofing it up is unknown to me. If you lose your nerve, there is a "Cancel Changes" button towards the bottom of the page (Next to the "Save Changes" button).

Best regards,

Scott
Last edited by sbosecker on Thu Mar 16, 2023 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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