theksmith 3,827 Posted May 4 if you've ever had to use the lottery system in place for permits/passes to some of the more popular U.S. national parks or specific attractions within them, you've likely been frustrated. well it turns out you should also be mad about where a large portion of your money is going. check out this article: https://outdoorstatus.com/articles/recreation-gov-lottery-fees/ 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgaz 545 Posted May 5 Excellent short article on this subject Kris. I was aware of the this issue on the Wave permits but hadn’t really looked at other lotteries. The Grand canyon back country permit lottery will transition to from NPS run to recreation.gov run this fall. Im curious if there will be an “application fee” charged even if you don’t score a permit. I hadn’t thought about this before now The current NPS run lottery charges a $10 processing fee that is only paid if you are issued a permit. Ironically, a good friend of mine has found it easier to get a Wave permit in person since recreation.gov took over the process. He is of the opinion that there were quite a number of locals that applied for permits almost everyday with no intention of using the permit. According to him, these folks were trying to keep down the number of visitors to the site under the idea of protecting the sensitive area. My buddy has visited the Wave twice in the last two years . Both times he got a permit on the second try. YMMV 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ob1jeeper 484 Posted May 6 IMHO... IF the park feels it necessary to institute a lottery system for admittance, they THEY should both run it AND use the funds obtained to operate it. Hiring yet another "good old boy" subcontractor who skims nearly half (or more) of the funds received is flat-out Bull Shipp... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,711 Posted May 6 For that amount of money - I'm sure you could build just as an effective lottery system website @theksmith and bid Booz Allen under the table. 😁 The site could be called........ National Parks Passport: A Division of Offroad Passport 🤣 1 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
