The permit lottery calendar, explained

Malcolm McSwain

Apr 2026 · 7 min read

A year calendar pinned to a wall with whole months crossed off in red marker

The permit year is a calendar of small windows, most of them in late winter, months before anyone is thinking about summer. Miss a window and no amount of fitness, gear, or enthusiasm reopens it. Here's the calendar as I work it, and what to do when the lottery says no.

The big four windows

FEB 1–MAR 15Mt. Whitney lottery (Inyo NF). One application, up to 15 alternate dates — use all 15. Results late March.

MAR 1–31Half Dome preseason lottery (NPS Yosemite). Daily two-days-ahead lottery runs all season as the fallback.

FEB–MAREnchantments lottery (Okanogan-Wenatchee NF). Core zone odds run in the low single digits — apply for shoulder dates and the lesser zones too.

MONTHLYThe Wave / Coyote Buttes North (BLM). Rolling lottery four months out, plus a daily geofenced lottery two days ahead, in person-ish.

Beyond the famous four: Yosemite wilderness permits run a rolling lottery 24 weeks ahead of your entry date, week by week. Many Sierra trailheads outside the lottery systems release quota blocks six months out and again two weeks out — the two-week release is the most underused fallback in the Sierra. Rules drift year to year; the agency page wins every argument. Divide's permit library tracks these systems with their windows and links, and attaching one to a cairn puts its deadline on your trip's own calendar.

Applying like you mean it

Three habits move the odds more than anything else. Flexible dates: a weekday start in shoulder season can triple your chances against a Saturday in August; list every date you could genuinely make. Whole-group applications: in lotteries that allow it, every member applying for the same dates multiplies tickets — coordinate so any winner covers the group, and never double-book two winners. Alternates as real answers: most applications let you rank alternate trailheads or zones. Rank ones you'd actually take, because you might get them.

When the lottery says no

A lottery loss is a division resolving, not a trip dying — if you built the division. Every permit-gated trip I plan carries a branch for the no: the walk-up strategy (cancellation releases cluster at the two-week and 48-hour marks), the alternate entry that dodges the quota, or the different objective that keeps the same dates and the same country. Clouds Rest instead of the cables. Kearsarge instead of Whitney. The clients who have the best season are never the luckiest ones — they're the ones whose Februarys did the most work.