Walk Up Permits for Temple Crag/Mt. Sill (Big Pine Creek)

Anyone know where/how to get walk up permits to Temple Crag/Mt. Sill this summer? The permits you need are for Big Pine Creek North Fork. I've heard varying things about the availability of walk up permits. The Forest Service website has not been very clear and cannot get a hold of them on the phone. 

"Traditionally 40% of the quota is set aside for walk up permit requests. In the past these permits were only issued in person from the visitor centers. The Forest Service’s priority remains focused on ensuring the safety for the public and our employees and volunteers. This has prompted the change to walk up being made available virtually in 2020.
For the 2020 season “walk up” quota will be added onto the reservation website recreation.gov
The exact process may change as we work to make the software do something it was not designed to do automatically. We are manually loading space trail by trail with a weeklong block of space. On Mondays we upload the following week for dates Monday through Sunday. This process takes about 4 hours and is usually completed by early afternoon.
After reserving the permit visitors will need to check in by email or phone to receive the permit by email or drop box.
Walk up permits will not be available in person at the visitor center this season."

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/inyo/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5144746

So basically, check recreation.gov all morning long on the Monday before you'd like to go for Big Pine North Fork as that's where 40% of the permits will be

To clarify, the permits that are loaded each Monday are for the following Monday through Sunday.

"40% of quota traditionally set aside for walk up permits is being added to the reservation website every Monday afternoon for the following Monday through Sunday" 

If you want to get a walk up permit for any day of the week except Monday, you would want to check the website two Mondays prior. If your desired departure date is on a Monday, you would check on the Monday prior. This is how I read it, anyway.

Didn't realize permits were all online til just now, looked to see if I could get lucky and score one for next weekend and it gave me this message on recreation.gov 

"Big Pine Creek North Fork Trailhead does not offer reservations through Recreation.gov"

Is that just because all the permits are taken or am I missing something?

Jack Anguswrote: Didn't realize permits were all online til just now, looked to see if I could get lucky and score one for next weekend and it gave me this message on recreation.gov 

"Big Pine Creek North Fork Trailhead does not offer reservations through Recreation.gov"

Is that just because all the permits are taken or am I missing something?

I just checked Recreation.gov. I don't see this message for the North Fork, but I didn't see any available permits as of right now. Follow the instructions above for securing a "walk-in" permit.

Sounds like you were doing something wrong.

Edit: You must select a :"type" of permit and number of people in your party before you look. Otherwise, you won't get any results.

I've heard they release permits for the following Sunday-Monday the Monday of the previous week sometime in the morning, and they go pretty fast. So tomorrow you could apply for permits for next Sunday-Monday time period.

Was anyone able to get a permit for next week? I got in at 7:05, nothing available. 

Tony Lobaywrote:

Was anyone able to get a permit for next week? I got in at 7:05, nothing available. 

In another thread, people are saying the permits for next week are loaded onto Recreation.gov about noon.

Thanks so much. This seems like it should be moved to lottery. 

So when I go on recreation.gov and select date # of people and place (big pine creek north fork) it says W (for walk up) and then It says this is available at a facility the day of ???  Can someone explain this to me?  I thought it was only available online?  

Amanda Burnswrote:

So when I go on recreation.gov and select date # of people and place (big pine creek north fork) it says W (for walk up) and then It says this is available at a facility the day of ???  Can someone explain this to me?  I thought it was only available online?  

Ignore the "W." Permits are only available if there is a number in that field. The W is confusing. Permits are only available online.

FrankPSwrote:

Ignore the "W." Permits are only available if there is a number in that field. The W is confusing. Permits are only available online.

Some of the dates have a green box with  "W" ("Walk-up") and some show blank grey ("Unavailable").  What's the difference?   Can the "W" dates be had?

RJNakatawrote:

Some of the dates have a green box with  "W" ("Walk-up") and some show blank grey ("Unavailable").  What's the difference?   Can the "W" dates be had?

No. To the best of my knowledge, only if there is a number in the box/field is a permit available. I don't know why they make it confusing with two different types of unavailable!

I think they explain this if you call the permit office. If you see a “W” for a given day, it means they will release the permit on the Monday before the date, making it reservable via Recreation.gov. That’s their way around issuing Walk Up Permits as far as i know.