I drove up to the BIC, this morning, to get a permit for a March hike. While
waiting in line, I overheard one of the rangers on duty talking with a hiker
about a new permit system being considered at the park. After getting my permit,
I asked the ranger about the new system. He said they may go to a lottery system
in 2010. It could happen as early as February 2010 (for June permits) but may
take until June 2010 (for October permits) to implement.

As the ranger explained it, the catalyst for this change is the increase of
in-person permit requests, which have grown to the point that all the nights in
corridor campsites are usually taken by the time the rangers get to the faxed
requests. A lottery system would put everyone on equal footing and eliminate the
advantage locals (like me) have. I asked if moving to a lottery system would
also include a move to accepting permit requests via email. That is one of the
details to be worked out.

The ranger also mentioned that they would issue a press release announcing the
lottery system, sometime before implementation. They may even do an email blast
to notify previous permit holders of the impending change. I asked if an
announcement would be made in the Grand Canyon-related Yahoo discussion groups.
The ranger said that hadn't been discussed but was probably a good idea.

While a lottery system is still in the planning phase, the fact that the ranger
was talking so openly about it has me thinking this is probably going to happen.

Bill Ferris
Flagstaff
http://www.gcadventure.com