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Walk-up permits for Enchantments now require a smartphone

Prusik Peak towers over the Core Enchantment Zone in autumn 2014. (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)
By Renata Geraldo Seattle Times

SEATTLE – This year, you’ll need a smartphone to try your luck getting walk-up permits to backpack the wildly popular Enchantments in the Central Cascades, the U.S. Forest Service announced on Friday.

But there’s a catch: The new mobile application process only lets people who are within a mile of the Wenatchee River Ranger Station to sign up for the “walk-up” lottery, which makes up a quarter of all Enchantments overnight permits.

The “geofence boundary,” which requires smartphones or other mobile devices with location turned on, mimics the traditional walk-up method while getting rid of the “cumbersome manual lottery and permit system,” according to the Forest Service. The perimeter also means successful applicants will be close enough to attend the in-person resource and safety briefings, and available to pick up the printed permit for their trip departure the following day.

The walk-up permits are available at 8:30 a.m. from Monday to Saturday at the Wenatchee River Ranger District Office in Leavenworth. A designated group leader will need a Recreation.gov account to sign up for the lottery, according to the Forest Service.

The daily lottery issues one permit each for the Colchuck, Stuart, Snow Lakes and Eightmile/Caroline zones, while eight people can be allotted for the Core Enchantment Zone.

Walk-up permits are limited and demand usually exceeds availability, the Forest Service said, as the July to September peak season might have 50 people or more present to enter the lottery on a given day. If more people are present than permits are available a drawing is held to distribute the permits. Participants are asked to show up 15 minutes early. Latecomers cannot take part in the drawing.

The advance lottery, which this year was open from Feb. 15 to Feb. 29, became digital on Recreation.gov in 2011. Before the transition, permit applications were mailed in and drawn by hand.

“Transitioning the lottery to a new digital process will help us free-up limited staff resources to better serve the public,” Wenatchee River District Ranger Erica Taecker said in a statement. “Both the Enchantments advanced and daily permit programs help the Forest Service manage the high visitor use that can result in resource damage if left unmanaged at this extremely popular, sensitive high-alpine destination.”

Interest in the Enchantments, located in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, has exploded over the past decade.

Last year, the success rate to get a permit through the advance lottery system was 6% – a spot more coveted than Yosemite National Park’s Half Dome.

Rangers and conservationists say that spike in interest has been caused by population growth, a pandemic-era surge in outdoor recreation and the viral spread of social media capturing scenes of mountain goats, pristine lakes and jagged peaks.

The new mobile app permit system will begin in May. The Forest Service expects to release more details in the coming months on how the daily lottery will work. For updates, check st.news/EnchantmentPermits.