I GOT IT! A Happy Isle to Little Yosemite Valley permit for July 15th, 2014. My hike is officially a-go. I feel like a big weight has been lifted, and I can breath easier. I am feeling very fortunate, after ready many forums and blogs, I started to worry if I would be able to get a reservation for the day I wanted. I have read numerous stories about people trying 3 or 4 or more days in a row and getting rejected each time. Going solo gave me a big leg up I guess. It it easier to slide one person into a spot, than try to find an open reservation for two or more. However, I did not get my permit on my first try, nor my first choice of permit options this time.
Sunday night I braved an incoming snow storm to get to FedEx Office in order to fax in my reservation form. It took only a minute to fax it in, but another 15 hours before I got my answer: "Thank you for your reservation request. We are sorry to inform you that your wilderness permit reservation request has been rejected for all choices listed. Your requested trailhead is full or we do not have space for a group of your size." Crushed! That was how I felt. How could I not get my permit? I knew it was not a for sure thing, but I had a feeling that I would be one of the few lucky ones. The ones that actually got their permit the first time. O.K. time to come up with plan B. I knew I would be back at FedEx tonight sending in another request, but what if I got rejected again?
From somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered reading a trip report where they had started their JMT hike with a Happy Isle to Illiloute permit. From what I could remember from their report it was not that bad, it just added a couple of extra miles (with an out and back from the actual trail). With over 211 miles of hiking waiting for me, what would a couple or more miles early on matter? So I searched the net for information on this option and found out that is was a viable option. My thought was that if I could at least get this permit, I would hopefully be able to upgrade once I got in the Valley. I quickly typed up a new permit request and faxed it in from work. And then I waited... again! By the time I left work I had not heard back from the pack service, so once again I went back to FedEx to fax my request for July 15th.
I think I checked my email every 5 to 10 minutes this morning. By 1 o'clock I was starting to worry as I had not heard anything on either permit request. I tried to call the park reservations to ask a question about the Illiloute option (how far down the trail I had to go before I could camp) and maybe see if I could find out about the status of either request. After numerous busy signals, I talked to a very friendly and helpful woman who told me I would have to hike about 3 miles off the JMT before I could camp. When I asked her if it was easier for me to fax in my request or do it over the phone, she said she could do it over the phone. I then mentioned my request for the Illiloute option yesterday, and that I had not heard back about it or today's request either. She was nice enough and looked into both, and it turns out I now have 2 permits: the Illiloute option from yesterday and I had gotten my second choice request from today. She asked me which one I wanted to keep, and I decided to keep both for now; at least until I have a little more time to compare my 2 options.
Now all I have to do is patiently wait another 168 days.
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