Devil's Slide Weekend Quota Question

[OldnSlow]

A meetup group member has stated that you can no longer get weekend DS permits outside at the Idyllwild RS.

She says you have to wait until they open and get one inside, meaning you have to wait until 8 AM to get a weekend permit, making it pretty late to head up to the summit on that route.

Is that true? I was up there on a quota weekend but pulled a permit for Deer Springs. I didn't see any signage about a change.

Thanks for any info.

[Ulysses]

Unfortunately it is true. I was told the Forest Service is enforcing this new policy, weekends only, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. My wife and I were turned back by a volunteer wilderness patrol person who was stationed at the DS trailhead on Sunday June 1. We had a self issue Devils Slide specific day use permit ,which I obtained the night before, but we were told it had to be stamped with that date. Which, as you said it can only be obtained at the Forest Service office after 8AM. Pretty lame policy in my opinion. Typical arbitrary Forest Service BS. We just did a little cross-country around the nice little wilderness patrol lady and went about our hike rather than wasting a bunch of gas driving to another trailhead.

[KathyW]

Unfortunately it is true. I was told the Forest Service is enforcing this new policy, weekends only, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. My wife and I were turned back by a volunteer wilderness patrol person who was stationed at the DS trailhead on Sunday June 1. We had a self issue Devils Slide specific day use permit ,which I obtained the night before, but we were told it had to be stamped with that date. Which, as you said it can only be obtained at the Forest Service office after 8AM. Pretty lame policy in my opinion. Typical arbitrary Forest Service BS. We just did a little cross-country around the nice little wilderness patrol lady and went about our hike rather than wasting a bunch of gas driving to another trailhead.

I'm glad you were able to go on your hike. The permitting system in the San Bernardino National Forest is broken but complaints fall on deaf ears. I get so upset that they send volunteers out on the trail to check permits when they make it so hard for people to pick up a permit on the way to the trailhead even when the quota isn't filled.

[Hikin_Jim]

Can one request a permit in advance?

HJ

[OldnSlow]

Can one request a permit in advance?

HJ

Yes, but only by snail mail I think. I was told by a nice volunteer in the Humber parking lot last summer that I needed a date stamped permit, but he let me go anyway. I didn't realize they wouldn't put those out in self serve.

Waiting on the RS to open at 8 for a hike to the summit is crazy.

[hvydrt]

I got into it with a ranger at the Devils Slide trail on a weekend. I drive up to the ranger station at about 5:30am, all the permits are gone! There were about 5 people in our group, some had driven from San Diego and LA. Of course there was a ranger standing at the trailhead at 6am waiting to bust people. We started up the trail and he asked for our permit. I explained to him we had driven from LA/SD and all the permits were gone by 5:30AM but he didn't care. Long story short, after arguing back and forth about not having a permit, I told him I didn't' care if he wrote me a ticket, we were going on our hike. I told him to leave it on my truck window and we walked off. He did nothing. I doubt there is even a system in place to fine or issue tickets for not having a permit.

Best way to deal with quotas is ignore them!

[Hikin_Jim]

Can one request a permit in advance?

Yes, but only by snail mail I think.

They don't do fax back? Mill Creek RS which is also SBNF let's you fax it in and will fax it back. I've gotten things turned around in a single day before.

HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

Best way to deal with quotas is ignore them!

Yeah, and then you get groups of 100 and places overrun with people. Ever been up Baldy on a busy day? Yuck.

But I hear you. Asking someone to wait three hours (from first light until 8:00 AM) is not reasonable. It always amazes me how little the USFS knows about hikers and their habits. The NPS does a far better job.

They really need a sophisticated web based program that deals not in numbers of permits but in numbers of people and deals less with trailheads and more with destinations.

HJ

[climbant]

From what I understand also is that the slide is based on a number of permits, not a number of people. Maybe it was moved into the RS to make it based on a number of people.

[7birdies]

I was told by a Ranger at Saddle Junction on Saturday afternoon that the quota on the weekend was 30 permits (I'm assuming this is per day) I ran up to Wellman Divide and back from Humber Park. I knew my chances for a Devil's Slide permit were 0%, I didn't have the time to start from another trailhead so I rolled the dice and went up Devils Slide with no permit. The Ranger stopped me as I rolled into Saddle Junction...