Hi Sean,

Yes, availability for Yosemite walk-in, or first-come wilderness permits at recreation.gov is not displayed until 7 a.m. Pacific Time seven days in advance of the date you want to start hiking. If you go to recreation.gov/permits/445859 on any day, you can find availability for walk-in permits seven days out.

Good luck.

Thank you for putting this article together! Would you be able to provide additional information on the 40% “7 day out” option? I went to Recreation.gov and could not figure out how to submit my request. Do I need to wait till 7AM PT, 7 days before, to see permits open up? I pulled up https://www.recreation.gov/permits/445859/registration/detailed-availability?type=overnight-permit&date=2023-08-19 just to see the trail heads that I am looking for all say “W” — which indicates to me “8 AM on the day of entry”. Could it be that the “W” changes to a # at the 7AM time slot and then I just have to click on the ‘box’ and click “book now”? Thank you in advance for any insight you may be able to provide.

Sean

Hi Tess,

I can understand why some backpackers liked the previous system for getting a walk-in wilderness permit in Yosemite by just showing up no more than a day before you want to start a trip: If you have the flexibility to do that, there was less competition for those permits than there likely is with the new system, which allows people to reserve a walk-in permit in advance. Being able to plan in advance instead of going to Yosemite and hoping for the best would appeal to more people. I suspect that’s why you’re having less luck. I’ve gotten walk-in permits under the old system but not very many times because, like many people, I usually didn’t want to spend the time and money to travel there without certainty of having a permit.

While the new walk-in permit system provides a much shorter advance-planning time period, it still allows applying online in advance of your arrival, so it’s similar to the standard advance-application system in that the most popular trailheads get booked very quickly. But less-popular trailheads often have availability. You can check which trailheads have availability in real time when applying for a walk-in permit; I suggest having some routes and park areas in mind before you begin the application process.

My honest answer is that I’m familiar enough with Yosemite to know which trailheads have less demand and still provide a great backpacking experience. That’s how I often succeed at getting a permit reservation, whether several months in advance or a new walk-in permit. I’ve also helped many readers get a walk-in permit in Yosemite through my Custom Trip Planning.

Thanks for the question and good luck to you.

It had been my practice for securing a permit for the last 25 years to use their walk-up permit procedure. I was always successful in securing my single-person permit with this method and, I, of course, loved it. With the new procedure, I have no luck using their .gov site as permits fill up in minutes in summer. I do not understand how you have been so successful with this method! Is there something I am missing? Can you suggest some help! I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank You,
Tess Barker

Hi Joshua,

No, there’s honestly nothing that would make me understand or agree with your argument. Eliminating backcountry permit systems in large, wilderness national parks like Yosemite would quickly lead to their overuse and decimation. That’s simply the reality of the world today. If you want to be able to drive somewhere at midnight on Thursday and expect to put your pack on and start hiking, there are public lands where you can do that—but increasingly, you’ll see more and more people out there and growing evidence of overuse and damage, from braided trails to severe erosion to even used toilet paper on the ground.

If you truly cannot bring yourself to plan a Yosemite trip even just two weeks in advance, then only you will suffer the consequences of not being able to backpack in Yosemite. But that’s not the existence that most adults have. Most of us know what our work and personal schedules are going to be two weeks ahead—and even months ahead, which is the timeline to apply for an advance permit reservation in many parks—and for that enormous number of people, the ability to secure a permit reservation two weeks in advance represents a short-notice trip and an improvement over Yosemite’s previous system for walk-in permits. People with busy lives don’t often have the desire to drive to a park at midnight to sleep in their car in hopes of getting a walk-in permit to start a hike the next morning.

And I wouldn’t recommend eating your pizza for breakfast in a meadow with a bear sow and cub.

Yosemite’s policy has GOT to go. This is public land and it’s ridiculous that I need to plan to go and backpack in our public lands.

If you’ve ever been sitting somewhere bored on a Thursday at 10pm, drove to the park at midnight on a whim, slept in your car at Big Oak Flat until the ranger station opens, then nabbed a free permit for whatever trail hadn’t filled it’s quota, then found yourself eating leftover pizza for breakfast in a meadow with a sow and her cub, you would understand.