High Sierra Topix

I did not find that permit reservations were searchable before 7:00. At five seconds after 7:00 the High Sierra Trail showed 20 out of 20 spots available for August 8. When I clicked it I got a notification that this was a popular trail and therefore it couldn't go through. ALL DATES I could see for that trailhead then immediately went to a W, for walk-up only. Is this really just the rush of individuals grabbing up every spot in a matter of seconds? Plenty of availability at the less popular trailheads. I got a permit from Alta instead. This is for me and my son to do our long-planned trip to Picket Creek.

I'm glad you were able to get a permit this morning, albeit not exactly the one you had hoped for. I was lucky enough to get a permit for two people on the High Sierra trail but Alta would have been my backup. I checked after I booked and like you said, many of the more popular trails had been fully booked in just a couple minutes.

I had this same permit last year right when the creek fire started and couldn't go. Year before that the trail was screwed and the ranger convinced us to go elsewhere in the park. Third years a charm? We wound up going to Big Bird Lake, Deadman Canyon and Tablelands in 2019 and saw no people for several days. Looking forward to getting over Kaweah Gap this year for the first time and circling back over Black Rock Pass. Not expecting the solitude I usually seek but the scenery should be well worth it. Enjoy your trip to Picket Creek!

Has anyone been able to figure out how to obtain a permit for entering in at Courtright Lake to Post Coral Mdws to Hell for
Sure Pass? Sierra NF Ranger tells me they’re now in rec.gov Inyo online reservations.
but no info comes up when I go onto the site. Got in earlier in January and grabbed an entrance at Lamark Lakes permit and that was easy, but this is turning into a conundrum

I was just looking into those Sierra National Forest permits and on the usfs website it says those permits will be on recreation.gov in March. I don't even think there is a homepage for those yet so you'll have to check back on there every so often.

I must say wow. I haven't hiked the HST yet in full and had hoped for an 2nd half of June date. I was on a 7:10-7:15am this morning and it was full except for walk ups, but I thought they were no longer doing walk ups (at least until covid is over). I guess I'll stick the obscure trailheads and off trail stuff... or maybe I just run the entire HST!