Knowing how to file for a wilderness permit or reservation can be an integral part of your camping adventure. Most national parks and forests require you to file for a permit if you plan on staying overnight in their park, but some also require you to obtain a permit before you hike during the daytime. These permits are generally sold if you use them to hold your reservation, but if there are permits left available, they are generally free and on a first-come, first-served basis.
Steps
1
Think ahead to what you want to do on your trip. Plan out your possible locations at which you are looking to camp overnight.
2
Plan ahead. Some parks have extremely early permit request reviews, and some require you to send your permit request in during a certain time frame. One example is Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, where the first round of reviews requires that your permit request come in during a one-week time period. Anything before or after that is not considered, and the drawing for permits is done on a random basis.
3
Pull up parks online, and determine who manages the land.
4
Determine if the dates of your travel fall within the quota time period. The quota system is generally put into place during the heaviest travel season at the particular park.
5
Determine the permit requirements by either calling the supervising agency or reviewing the policies online.
6
Select a leader for your group. This is whose name the reservation will be under and who will be the name responsible on the paperwork for the people in his or her traveling party.
7
Fill out the necessary online permit and submit it to the reservation office.
8
Make sure that you know where your pickup station is to retrieve your permit upon arrival. Some parks have unmanned stations, while others require you to pick them up from a manned office. If you must grab them from a manned office, make sure that you arrive on time.
