Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board yosemite permit info.

I need some help/info.. Iam trying to set up a backpack trip out of Tuolumne Meadows late August. The problem is my group (including friends and family) may be approximately 16 persons. I was told the max. amount of people per permit is 8. IS THIS TRUE? Can I alone send or e-mail for two permits, or should I alone e-mail for a 8 person permit and have another friend e-mail for other eight?

Maximum group size is 8 if you are going cross country or 15 if you are sticking to trails. See http://www.nps.gov/yose/wilderness/group.htm for details.

depending on the trailhead, you may have trouble getting 2 permits to cover 16 people on the same trail starting on the same day. They have a limit on the number of people on each trailhead each day. You may need to have our group start on different days to make it work.

As long as both parties do not camp at the same exact site it should be ok. (eg. Same lake but separated by 100 feet is the rule as I recall.) They make the distinction of all at one camp, but if you spread it out a bit you can make it work. Just apply early, and/or avoid busy weekends.

Here is a URL that lists Yosemite trailheads and dates which have already been fully reserved.

Here is a URL that lists Yosemite trailheads and dates which have already been fully reserved.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/rptFullTrailheadDates.htm

Mark:

The reservations are for the trail-head, not the camp sites. I know that doesn't make sense, but there is the right way, the wrong way and the NPS way.

Sam,
Yes, it is for the trailhead, but you still have to camp somewhere. Even when you get the permits, you cannot camp as a single group in one place with that number- you must separate into two groups of ten or less. My point was to get the permits as two entities and also plan to camp some distance apart. You don't want some zealous ****** coming up and telling you to all move, or issuing citations.
Also, there is a guaranteed permit ratio of 50-50 mail-in reservations to next day walk-ups. (Some trails 60-40.) There is always the ability to get a reservation for the next day- just get to the valley a day early and hang out at the backpacker campsight. He might get permits for ten in one first reservation this week, and the late joiners can almost be 100% assured of also getting a permit for the next day when they walk up later- right before the actual hike. My point is that it may be better to get two separate group permits under separate names for the same trail- even if they may have to be obtained at two separate times.