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JRinGeorgia
How did they mess up? Did they forget to put you in the lottery, or did they put you in and you lost and then they made the mistake of processing your wilderness permit anyway? Depending on that I might ask them for some kind of special consideration. If they forgot to put you into the lottery at all, you might think that they would try to accommodate you. In reality what is one over the quota, for special circumstances to address their own error? At least carve one out of the walk-ups for you. It's possible they don't have the authority to make these kinds of changes, which would be a shame.
If you were in the lottery and lost, then it should be a simple matter of asking them to cancel your permit and refund all charges as they should have done, if that's what you want.
I think they probably messed up by not adding the HD permit to my Wilderness permit, as I requested. I made sure to tick the box that states not to proceed if HD permits were not avaiable, as I would have tried for another date when they were. I am not sure how the system works, but (and I am only guessing here) I would think that any backpacker that requests one, before the HD lottery, would get one, as, due to the relativley small amount of people accessing HD from the wilderness is low, due to trailhead quotas, so I can't really see how there would have been no permits.
I did phone the Permit office to check if I had HD or not, as I was confussed, but they confirmed that no I didnt, and there were none left by then, and I would have to apply through the regular Lottery. I may phone back, or write a letter, attaching my fax as supporting evidence, as I really would be unhappy if I didn't get a permit in the lottery.
However, I have applied for three different days, and with slight changes to my plans, can make either of those work, so hopefully I should be lucky.
I assume it would be very difficult to score a HD permit when I pick up my Wilderness permit in TM?
Steve
Steve