The permit lottery calendar

The famous hikes increasingly sit behind a lottery, and every lottery runs on its own clock: one opens for a single month in spring, one draws on the first of every month, one you can only enter from a phone standing in the right valley. Miss the window and the trip does not slide a week; it slides a year. This page is the working calendar we maintain for the ten permits our readers ask about most, each checked against the page of the agency that runs it.

How to read it: the table is the whole system at a glance. The sections under it carry the mechanics that decide outcomes, group limits, claim deadlines, the honest odds where an agency or a published analysis states them, and the backup plan worth booking while you wait. Where next year's window has not been published yet, the calendar prints the last published cycle and labels it. Confirm on the official page before you build travel around any date here; the agency page is the final word.

Next windows, from Nov 9, 2026

What opens next

• Open now to Nov 25, 2026: The Subway seasonal lottery for January to March trips at Zion. Open now
• Every month, on the 1st: The Wave advance draw at 9:00 a.m. Mountain Time for the month four months out, and the Coyote Buttes South advance calendar opens at noon Mountain Time for the month three months out. Rolling
• Feb 1, 2027: the February cluster. Mount Whitney's lottery opens (to Mar 1), the Grand Canyon river main lottery opens for 2028 launches, and Havasupai's general on-sale is expected (the Tribe announces the exact date in January). Feb 1
• Feb 15 to Mar 1, 2027: the Enchantments advanced lottery, on the Forest Service's published pattern; the exact 2027 dates post to Recreation.gov in January. Feb 15
• Mar 1 to 31, 2027: the Half Dome preseason lottery for the whole cables season. Mar 1

The calendar

All ten permits, one table

Windows and fees are taken from the agency pages listed under each permit below. Lotteries repeat on the cycles shown; where an agency has not yet published the 2027 dates, the row and the section say so.

Yosemite National Park · Day hike and backpacking

Half Dome

The permit covers the cable section only, and it is required seven days a week whenever the cables are up, normally from the Friday before Memorial Day to the day after the second Monday in October. About 300 people a day get past Sub Dome: roughly 225 day hikers through the lotteries below and 75 backpackers, who ask for Half Dome when they apply for their wilderness permit instead.

• Preseason lottery: apply Mar 1 to 31 for the whole season. One application covers up to six people and up to seven preferred dates or date ranges, in rank order.
• Results: mid-April, by email and in your Recreation.gov account. Winners are charged $10 per person; the $10 application fee is never refunded.
• Daily lottery: two days ahead, in season. Apply between 12:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Pacific; results arrive by email that evening, with the same fees.
• Named at application: the trip leader and one alternate. Only those two can pick up the permit, with photo ID, and names cannot be added later.
• Odds: the park does not publish a rate. Analyses of recent Recreation.gov data put preseason success at roughly one entry in five, and the daily lottery a little better on weekdays than weekends.

If you lose: the lottery gates the last 400 feet, not the hike. The trail to the top of Nevada Fall and the base of Sub Dome needs no Half Dome permit, the daily lottery stays open every day of a trip, and a guided valley day covers the rest of the park while you wait for a draw to land. Source: NPS, Half Dome permits.

Coyote Buttes North, Arizona Strip · BLM

The Wave

Sixty-four people a day, no more: 48 permits through the advance lottery and 16 through the daily geofence lottery, in groups of up to six. Everyone on the permit, adults, children, infants and dogs included, counts against the number, and dogs cost $7 each.

• Advance lottery: apply any time during the calendar month that falls four months before your hike month (apply in January for a May hike), with up to three preferred dates. One application per person per monthly draw; $6, nonrefundable.
• The draw: 9:00 a.m. Mountain Time on the 1st of the following month. Winners must accept and pay the $7 per person recreation fee by the 15th, or the permit is forfeit. The permit itself is mailed four to six weeks before the hike.
• Daily lottery: phone only, inside the geofence, about 3,272 square miles along the US-89 and Highway 389 corridors between Kanab, Utah and Page, Arizona, including Big Water, Fredonia and Jacob Lake. Apply 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. two days before the hike; results at 7:15 p.m.; accept and pay by 8:00 a.m. the next morning; then an 8:30 a.m. safety briefing and permit pickup the day before the hike, at the pickup site you chose, photo ID required.
• Odds: the BLM publishes no win rate. Independent analyses of past Recreation.gov data estimate the advance draw at roughly 2 in 100 for a peak spring month and closer to 8 in 100 in January, with the daily lottery between roughly 3 and 9 in 100 by season. Treat those as estimates, not promises.

If you lose: you are already in the right town. Coyote Buttes South, below, runs the same daily lottery at a fifth of the demand, and the slot canyons around Kanab and Page take guided bookings on a day's notice. Sources: Recreation.gov, advanced lottery; Recreation.gov, daily lottery.

Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona · BLM

Coyote Buttes South

Not the Wave, and that is the point. The south unit holds the same swirled sandstone a few miles away on a permit a fraction as contested: 20 people a day, at most eight groups, split evenly between an advance calendar and the daily lottery. Two cautions shape the trip: reaching either trailhead takes a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle on deep sand roads, and there are no trails once you are in, just route finding across open slickrock.

• Advance permits: a calendar, not a draw. Reservations open at noon Mountain Time on the 1st of the month for the month three months ahead (Jan 1 opens April), and they go first come, first served.
• Daily lottery: the same geofence and phone rules as the Wave. Apply 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. two days ahead, results 7:15 p.m., accept and pay by 8:00 a.m. the next morning, then a 9:00 a.m. safety briefing at a pickup location the day before the hike.
• Fees: $5 per person and $5 per dog, plus the $6 nonrefundable application fee on lottery entries.
• One honest wrinkle: Recreation.gov's page text says the calendar opens four months out; the BLM's own table says three. We follow the BLM table, and you should confirm on the permit page before you set an alarm.

Sources: BLM, Coyote Buttes South; Recreation.gov, daily lottery.

Zion National Park · Day hike

Angels Landing

A permit is required every day, at all hours, for the chained section of Angels Landing. The hike to Scout Lookout, up Walter's Wiggles, needs no permit at all. Two lotteries share the permits roughly evenly; the park's own estimate is that your combined chance averages about 50 percent, from as low as 8 percent on a Memorial Day weekend Sunday to 100 percent on some quiet midweek days.

• Seasonal lottery: one application covers up to six people and up to seven dates or date ranges, each with a start-time slot: before 9 a.m., 9 a.m. to noon, or after noon. $6 to apply, $3 per person if you are selected.
• Day-before lottery: apply from 12:01 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time the day before your hike; permits are issued by email at 4:00 p.m.
• 2026 seasonal windows (NPS, published Feb 11, 2026): spring hikes (Mar 1 to May 31) applied Feb 13 to 25, issued Feb 26; summer (Jun 1 to Aug 31) applied Apr 1 to 20, issued Apr 25; fall (Sep 1 to Nov 30) applied Jul 1 to 20, issued Jul 25; winter (Dec 1, 2026 to Feb 28, 2027) applied Oct 1 to 20, issued Oct 25.
• 2027: the park has not published the 2027 seasonal windows yet. Note that the spring 2026 window opened in mid-February, not January as in earlier years; wait for the park's announcement instead of trusting last year's dates, and we will post the new cycle here when it lands. Our full Zion three-day itinerary plans around either answer.

If you lose: Scout Lookout is still a serious viewpoint, Observation Point from the East Mesa needs no lottery, and the Narrows bottom-up day hike needs no permit at all. A guided Narrows day or a canyoneering day turns a lost draw into the best day of the trip anyway. Sources: NPS news release, Feb 11, 2026; go.nps.gov/AngelsLanding.

Lost the draw? The whole replacement day is built for you on our Angels Landing fallback planner: your situation, your hours and your crew in, a full permit free Zion day out, assembled from the Narrows, Scout Lookout, Observation Point and the east side, with the season catches stated for each.

Zion National Park · Wilderness

The Subway (Left Fork)

The Left Fork of North Creek always needs a wilderness permit, bottom-up or top-down, in any season. Its seasonal lottery runs on a quarterly rhythm that rewards planning a full season ahead.

• Seasonal lottery windows: January to March trips apply Nov 1 to 25; April to June trips apply Feb 1 to 25; July to September apply May 1 to 25; October to December apply Aug 1 to 25. Results email on the 27th; winners claim within two weeks; unclaimed spots open for reservation on the 15th of the following month at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time. The window for January to March 2027 trips is open right now, to Nov 25, 2026.
• Daily lottery: two days ahead. Apply 12:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time; the drawing runs that afternoon and results follow by email.
• Fees: $6 per seasonal or daily application, nonrefundable.

If you lose: the same daily-lottery habit as Angels Landing, plus the Narrows bottom-up day hike, which needs no permit. Sources: NPS, Zion canyoneering permits.

Inyo National Forest, California · Wilderness

Mount Whitney

Entering the Whitney Zone takes a permit all year. In the quota season, May 1 to November 1, the Forest Service limits the zone to 100 day hikers and 60 overnight hikers a day, plus 25 Trail Crest exits, and fills them by lottery. There are no walk-up permits in quota season.

• Lottery: apply Feb 1 to Mar 1 on Recreation.gov, one application per group.
• Results: posted Mar 15 in your Recreation.gov account.
• Claim deadline: winners confirm and pay the $15 per person fee by 9:00 p.m. Pacific on Apr 21, or the win is revoked.
• Leftover release: unclaimed dates go on sale first come, first served on Apr 22 at 7:00 a.m. Pacific, and cancellations reappear through the season.
• Outside the quota season (Nov 2 to Apr 30), permits are unlimited and bookable online up to two weeks ahead; a winter Whitney is a mountaineering trip, not a hike.

Sources: USFS, Mount Whitney wilderness permits; Recreation.gov, Mount Whitney permit.

Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington · Overnight

The Enchantments

Overnight trips between May 15 and October 31 need a permit for one of five zones: Core Enchantment, Snow Lake, Colchuck Lake, Stuart Lake and Eightmile/Caroline. The Core is the prize and the hardest draw. Day use needs only the free self-issued permit at the trailhead, which makes a long day traverse the standing backup plan.

• Advanced lottery (2026 cycle): apply Feb 15 to Mar 1; results Mar 17; winners confirm and pay $5 per person per day by Mar 31, 11:59 p.m. Pacific. The application fee is $6, nonrefundable.
• Unclaimed release: Apr 1 at 7:00 a.m. Pacific, first come, first served on Recreation.gov.
• Daily lottery: in season, a geofence lottery on the Recreation.gov app around Leavenworth for next-day permits. The daily mechanics are published by the Forest Service in season; check the permit page before you rely on them.
• 2027: dates not yet posted. The Forest Service directs applicants to Recreation.gov in January for the new cycle.

Sources: USFS, Enchantments overnight permits; Recreation.gov, Enchantments permit.

Grand Canyon National Park · Noncommercial river

Grand Canyon river permits

The do-it-yourself Colorado River trip, 12 to 25 days through the canyon, is assigned by a weighted lottery held each February for the following year's launches. Weighting favors patience: your chance grows the longer it has been since you last ran the river.

• Main lottery: for 2027 trips, applications ran Feb 2 to noon Mountain Time on Feb 24, 2026, for 478 permits. Results were emailed and posted by the end of February.
• Where: applications run through the park's own site, grcariverpermits.nps.gov, not Recreation.gov.
• Rules that shape strategy: applicants must be 18 or older, and nobody may be on more than one Grand Canyon river trip, commercial or not, in the applied-for year.
• Follow-up lotteries: cancelled dates are re-offered through the year, typically on short windows announced by email to registered users.
• 2028: the next main lottery is expected in February 2027 on the standing pattern; the park announces exact dates.

If you lose: the weighted system remembers the loss and improves next year's chance, and the commercial outfitters authorized by the park sell the same river with a guide, booked directly with the outfitter. Source: NPS, the weighted lottery.

Havasupai Reservation, Arizona · Tribal

Havasupai

Havasu Falls is not in the national park and not on Recreation.gov. The Havasupai Tribe runs its own reservations, every stay is four days and three nights, and there are no day trips. Demand is such that the season is usually spoken for within hours of the on-sale.

• 2026 pattern: an early access window ran Jan 21 to 31 at higher prices, then the general on-sale opened Feb 1 at 8:00 a.m. Arizona time. Campground $455 per person for the three nights; the lodge $2,277 per room, up to four guests. The campground season runs Feb 1 to Nov 30.
• 2027: dates and prices are not announced yet. The Tribe announces each year, and the guides that track it expect word in January with a Feb 1 on-sale on the same pattern. Plan for the window; do not book flights on the pattern.
• Resale: the official transfer board of past years was reported discontinued for 2026, and permits are checked against ID at the trailhead. Buy only from the Tribe's site.

Source: Havasupai Reservations, the Tribe's official site. Because the Tribe publishes its calendar on its own schedule, treat every date above as the 2026 pattern until the 2027 announcement replaces it.

Denali National Park, Alaska · NPS

Denali Road Lottery: suspended

The most unusual lottery on this calendar is not running. The Denali Park Road has been closed at Mile 43 since August 2021 by the Pretty Rocks landslide at Polychrome Pass, a bridge across the slide is under construction through 2026, and the National Park Service states the Road Lottery is suspended for the foreseeable future, with no restart date. Private vehicles otherwise reach only Mile 15, Savage River, in season.

• The historical pattern, for when it returns: applications ran May 1 to 31 on Recreation.gov with a $15 entry fee, winners were notified in June and charged a $25 permit fee, and about 400 cars a day drove the full road on four mid-September days after the tour buses stopped, plus a fifth day for military appreciation. Historical reporting puts the odds near one in seven.
• What to do instead: the park's transit and tour buses still run as far as Mile 43, bookable through the park's concessioner, and the entrance-area trails need no lottery at all.

Source: NPS, Denali Road Lottery page, which carries the suspension notice.

Before any window opens

The five-minute setup that wins lotteries

• Make the Recreation.gov account now, with the payment card on file, before the morning any window opens. Nine of the ten systems above run through it or through a single official site linked from it.
• Agree the group before the window. Half Dome names a leader and one alternate at application and never lets you add names later; The Wave wants every participant, including dogs, counted at entry.
• Put the claim deadline on the same calendar as the draw. More permits die unclaimed than lost: Whitney wins revoke on Apr 21, Wave permits forfeit on the 15th, Enchantments wins expire Mar 31.
• Book the refundable backup early. Gateway lodging and the backup-day tours above are cheapest and most flexible while the lottery is still pending, not the morning the email says no.

Dates, windows and fees on this page come from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Recreation.gov and Havasupai Tribe pages linked in each section. Agencies change windows, sometimes mid-cycle; the official page always wins over this one.