Trail quotas?

[Florian]

Does anyone know how the trail quotas are calculated? For example yesterday, Wednesday, climbing San Gorgonio i only saw one other hiker all day. And he was backpacking and had come up Vivian Creek on Monday. But on a weekend there are lots of people on the trails. Are the quotas different on weekends vs weekdays? I wouldn't expect the trails to ever hit quota on a weekday. Why even bother with quotas on weekdays since there are so few hikers?

I was thinking maybe quotas are calculated weekly or monthly and then divided out differently for weekend/weekday?? Does anyone know how this works?

Also does anyone know just what the quotas are for each trail?

-Florian

[neverwashasbeen]

Florian, I can't answer all your questions, because I'm usually the guy being told I can't go, the quota's been met. When I've asked the same questions, I've been told that the quotas are based on studies done by the agency responsible for the area. These studies determine how many people can be in the study area without adversely impacting it (how they do that I have no idea). Then they set the quota, 25, 50 or however many people per day. Day of the week isn't an issue, it's the same every day. Some areas have overnight and day use quotas, others don't make a distinction between the two. There are also issues regarding advance reservations vs walk up, some areas have advance reservations, some don't. It's not a one size fits all in my experience and you'll need to check each individual area for local regulations.

Hope this helps a little.

[Rumpled]

I like that forests like the Inyo post online what the quotas for each trailhead are and the seasons.
I don't like that the SoCal forests have quotas but don't tell you what they are.

[Hikin_Jim]

I like that forests like the Inyo post online what the quotas for each trailhead are and the seasons.
I don't like that the SoCal forests have quotas but don't tell you what they are.

They use a simple formula:

You = one too many.

[Florian]

They use a simple formula:
You = one too many.

A contributing factor to that is folks that reserve permits ahead of time for multiple weekends not knowing which weekend they will actually be hiking. Say they think they'll want to hike Vivian Creek sometime in June, so they FAX in requests for the four weekends in June, say for 6 people each permit. But then come June they actually only hike on one of those weekends. They just locked out 18 people that could have hiked the other three weekends.

-Florian

[Rumpled]

They use a simple formula:
You = one too many.

A contributing factor to that is folks that reserve permits ahead of time for multiple weekends not knowing which weekend they will actually be hiking. Say they think they'll want to hike Vivian Creek sometime in June, so they FAX in requests for the four weekends in June, say for 6 people each permit. But then come June they actually only hike on one of those weekends. They just locked out 18 people that could have hiked the other three weekends.

-Florian

As for you HJ - I've never been denied in SoCal; but usually for Whitney.

Florian, I understand what you are saying; but that is a bit of an administrative problem that should be corrected.
My point is that the Inyos will say there are 50 permits a day for a trailhead, and sometimes on the web give updates.
Locally, they don't even let you know what the total quota is or what is available.

[Florian]

Florian, I understand what you are saying; but that is a bit of an administrative problem that should be corrected.

I agree and i wasn't directing the comment toward anyone in particular. I don't know what the solution is but i suspect people that over-reserve permits, and don't use them, just make it harder for others to get a permit on a given day. Fortunately i have free weekdays so getting a permit is not usually an issue for me.

-Florian