Wilderness – Closed For the Season?

"Hello, Wilderness Mecca, how can I help you?"

"Oh, I'm so, sorry, but just everything is booked everywhere."

"No, walk-ins aren't permitted. We are not into spontaneity. One must plan, plan, plan ahead."

San Francisco Chronicle outdoor writer Tom Stienstra begins his Sunday, December 13, 2009 story "Parks step up permit game, so be ready" with this statement: "The solution to the people-crush at America's most-loved parks is a combination of lotteries, advance registration and quotas. Now is the time to get the system wired for 2010."

Want to camp in the great outdoors? In California, the state parks system takes campsite reservations seven months in advance; at Yosemite National Park you can book five months in advance of your trip. The National Parks Service has thrown a monkey wrench into forays Park by hikers and campers into the desert backcountry of Grand Canyon National Park: On the first of the month you can reserve four months ahead, but don't just show up at the trailhead expecting to be allowed in.

Climb any mountain? Not so fast, my friend. If you want to climb to the summit of California's highest peak, Mount Whitney, postmark your written request to the U.S. Forest Service on or after February 1^st in order to have a shot at winning the permit lottery on February 15^th. Permits to hike to the rim of the Mt. St. Helens volcano go on sale February 1^st, too, and are limited to 100 per day from May 15^th through the end of October.

In 1890, the Bureau of the Census tacitly declared that the last frontier of American was "closed". Will the wilderness of the West ever be permanently closed? Let's hope not. In the meantime, take a number and wait your turn, or travel to less-loved mountains, lakes, and plateaus in the Wild, Wild, West.