What is the possibility of developing e-permits similar to the e-tickets you get for air travel.
It would be great to be able to get your permit prior to leaving home. You could pay by credit card, acknowledge and agree to the rules, print out you permit, print out your parking tag, and have everyting ready to go before you leave home.
There would be no more showing up to find that an access point is full. You would be able to enter access points without a ticket office without treking out of your way for a permit (eg #13).
This is a great suggestion. I'd love to be able to paddle away from my access point at first light without having to wait for the permit office to open, especially when paddling solo or with kids and trying to avoid the wind and waves that inevitably come up later in the day. Paddling those first few hours of the day is probably my favourite part of tripping, and an early arrival and set up makes you feel like you've already been there for a long time by the end of that first day.
I for one would love this option, as i have on ocassions arrived later then the office is open, and went anyway, Not right but I have aready paid for the reservation. and am not willing to waste my time driving back out to the access point 1 hour each way. I am all for it, I dont care about refunds, as me or someone else would have to be dead to miss a trip.
Mark S. (no login) 74.12.76.36
Re: e-permits
December 5 2008, 11:12 AM
I like that idea too. It's not like the permit office staff goes through your gear to make sure you don't have any cans or bottles. It's basically the honour system now. So why not have an e-permit and save time for the canoeist or hiker.
And it probably will save money for the park on staffing and other costs.
I think we should make this suggestion at the next meeting with John Winters and the park staff.
I could see this working as long as there was a portion that could be left at the put-in so park staff could know who is in the park. If you just left, there would be no way of knowing who had actually arrived and how many sites were occupied. With people making multiple reservations and only showing up for one (as some do now) you could have a situation where an entire area is "full" even though no-one actually showed up.
Perhaps an option for the e-tickets could be that there is a portion of the ticket that you need to cut off and drop off in a mail slot type place at the permit office so that they know you have arrived, similar to the box that is available for you to put your expired permit in.
I like this idea, definitely something that needs further discussion and thought and development.
One limitation to that idea would be that it'd still require one to enter the park through an official access point (ie if you were starting at Sunday L you'd still have to go out of your way.) I'm sure that the e-permit idea would work well though.
Rob Withnell (Login scoutergriz) Impact Committee 64.229.205.156
Re: e-permits
January 21 2009, 11:50 AM
An easy way around the access issue is to print 2 copies, drop one portion of the first off at any access point, drive to your put in, leave the tear off portion of the second in your car, and take the other half with you as your permit.
