Whitney's full.
Until they cancel.

Mt. Whitney is the most-chased permit in the Sierra. The reservation calendar opens, the popular weekends vanish in minutes, and you're left staring at a wall of grey. If you missed the click, you missed it.

But plans fall apart constantly. People cancel, drop a night, or never claim their lottery permit at all. That quota goes right back on the calendar for whoever's watching. The catch is it can land at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday, and the popular dates disappear again within minutes.

That's the whole opening Dibs on Dirt is built for. We check Whitney and the Eastern Sierra trailheads around the clock and catch the second a spot frees up on your dates. No refreshing Recreation.gov on your lunch break.

Here's our line, plainly. Dibs on Dirt cannot change the preseason lottery draw. From February to April 21 there's nothing to refresh, no spot to catch, and we won't pretend otherwise. An alert is not a reservation, and it's definitely not a winning lottery ticket.

Everything after April 22 is fair game. The first-come release, the two-week quota drop, and every in-season cancellation are real openings on the Recreation.gov calendar. Those are exactly what we watch.

And one myth worth killing: when someone cancels a Whitney permit, it does not go back into the lottery. It returns to the reservation calendar as first-come, first-served, usually within a day. That's a spot you can book the moment you hear about it.

The same cancellation story that plays out on Mt. Whitney holds for some of Recreation.gov's other permits too. A reserved slot gets cancelled, and it returns to the calendar as a bookable opening, often within hours. A few permits work differently: cancellations feed a lottery instead, so entering on time is the only move.

Here's what we watch, and how each one actually works:

Some permits are pure lottery: no FCFS availability, no cancellation slot to catch. The only move is to enter on time. That means knowing exactly when the application opens, when it closes, and when results post.

Set a lottery watch and we email you as each key date lands. Application open gets three nudges, a week out, the day before, and the day itself, while application close and the accept‑and‑pay deadline each get two: the day before and the day of. Draw date and results posted get one apiece, the same day, since there's nothing to act on before then.

A handful of the most coveted permits run a micro-lottery for each calendar day. The entry window opens and closes on a rolling basis, and the draw happens a few days ahead of the visit date. Miss the entry window for your date and there's no backup.

The Wave Daily Lottery (Coyote Buttes North) is the clearest example: entries drawn four days before the visit date, a fresh draw for every single day of the year. Set a watch on your target date and we remind you to enter roughly two days before that window closes. You enter, the lottery runs, and we tell you the result.