Inyo National Forest permit question

Hey Folks!

Just had a quick question regarding the Inyo NF permits. There's overnight and cross-country permits. According to the Inyo site, cross country is for offtrail travel IN national parks. So if I was still planning on going off trail in NON national parks, would I still apply for a cross country permit or overnight?

Thanks!
Kevin

Here's what I think is going on: the maximum group size for off-trail travel within the parks is smaller than the national forests (8 vs. 15), so the system has a specific permit type that enforces this group size restriction. You still need a permit for all overnight trips that enter a wilderness area or park, on-trail or off-trail. You'll generally use the starting trailhead (or closest trailhead to your start) to determine quota and availability. Other than the Mountaineer's Route, I'm not aware of any specific cross-country-only "trailheads" in Inyo--for example, for Lamarck Col, you use Lamarck Lakes, where the maintained trail officially ends.

I asked about this at the Mammoth Visitor Center last year and the ranger seemed to consider the "trail" versus "cross-country" "permit type" on the webpage to be pretty confusing. I did note the remaining quota before and after reserving my permit, and found that both "permits" remaining quota had been reduced by the size of my party.