steve
Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2013
- Messages
- 2,140
I'm not new to technology, but for the life of me, I always seem to screw up my NP backcountry permits. I got my maze district permits this year with zero issues, so I'm getting better, but Yosemite is another story.
In March I go to recreation.gov and put in for the lottery for the half dome cables. A few weeks later, i get a confirmation email stating that one of my 6 lottery applications was accepted. There are zero instructions on it, zero verbiage about me needing re-confirm these dates, nothing. It's a confirmation for one of my desired dates. It states the dates accepted, fees paid, and zero balance due. So I assume I will get the permit in the mail, just like when I reserved a permit at the Maze. WRONG.
Today I get an email that I didn't confirm my application in time. First off, when you make the lottery application, you confirm that you are available those dates, and that you'll pay the fee and stick to your reservation if granted. Yes, the recreation.gov website states that you have to confirm before the deadline (yesterday), and I read that when I applied. However, with all the applications I've made, I can't remember which sites have which rules. I guess I just assumed that since I got a confirmation email, it would either give me instructions on what I needed to do next (like confirming my reservation), or it would tell me I'm done (which I assumed).
I've been on the phone with recreation.gov for over an hour, and it doesn't seem there's anything they can do. I can drive to California, stand in line 2 days before my trip and hope I'm lucky enough to get a walk-in permit and not waste my vacation days for nothing, or I can try the same process online (though I don't have much confidence doing anything on recreation.gov).
Has anyone ever had any luck getting a CS rep to make exceptions? They say it's an automated system and they can't manually register me for that date. But when they look up my permit number, it shows me, the permit I wanted, and it just says I didn't confirm in time (which I didn't). Is there any silver lining here? Any suggestions?
In March I go to recreation.gov and put in for the lottery for the half dome cables. A few weeks later, i get a confirmation email stating that one of my 6 lottery applications was accepted. There are zero instructions on it, zero verbiage about me needing re-confirm these dates, nothing. It's a confirmation for one of my desired dates. It states the dates accepted, fees paid, and zero balance due. So I assume I will get the permit in the mail, just like when I reserved a permit at the Maze. WRONG.
Today I get an email that I didn't confirm my application in time. First off, when you make the lottery application, you confirm that you are available those dates, and that you'll pay the fee and stick to your reservation if granted. Yes, the recreation.gov website states that you have to confirm before the deadline (yesterday), and I read that when I applied. However, with all the applications I've made, I can't remember which sites have which rules. I guess I just assumed that since I got a confirmation email, it would either give me instructions on what I needed to do next (like confirming my reservation), or it would tell me I'm done (which I assumed).
I've been on the phone with recreation.gov for over an hour, and it doesn't seem there's anything they can do. I can drive to California, stand in line 2 days before my trip and hope I'm lucky enough to get a walk-in permit and not waste my vacation days for nothing, or I can try the same process online (though I don't have much confidence doing anything on recreation.gov).
Has anyone ever had any luck getting a CS rep to make exceptions? They say it's an automated system and they can't manually register me for that date. But when they look up my permit number, it shows me, the permit I wanted, and it just says I didn't confirm in time (which I didn't). Is there any silver lining here? Any suggestions?
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