View Full Version : hiking permit?
bluffhead
07-09-2009, 08:07
do i need a permit to hike or only at state parks? are these places u get them easy to not miss for say. i plann on avoiding as much human interaction as possible.? thanks
On the AT?
The only places permits are required are (if I recall correctly) the Smokies, the Shenandoah NP, and Baxter. Any place that requires a permit has a sign telling you what to do as you enter the park.
bluffhead
07-09-2009, 08:15
yes i meant on the at and thanks:)
Lone Wolf
07-09-2009, 08:21
On the AT?
The only places permits are required are (if I recall correctly) the Smokies, the Shenandoah NP, and Baxter. Any place that requires a permit has a sign telling you what to do as you enter the park.
no permit needed in baxter. yet
if you want to avoid human interaction, the AT is the wrong place to be hiking.
keidallmer
07-20-2009, 17:36
Say, where do you get one of those fancy hiking permits? Do you purchase them online?
your state and the feds dnr site is where you can paid a yearly fee to park and enjoy the things of the state park. Maryland it's 35, Feds passport might be more
http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm
Just search your state Department of Natural Resources
I purchased my SNP permit online cuz I knew when I was going so I didn't have to do the self register when I got there.
Pedaling Fool
07-21-2009, 09:59
do i need a permit to hike or only at state parks? are these places u get them easy to not miss for say. i plann on avoiding as much human interaction as possible.? thanks
Two places you need to register (obtain permit): Shenandoah National Park (SNP) and Great Smoky Mountains National park (GSMNP).
If I had just started hiking the AT without much research, I probably wouldn't of noticed that I needed to register in these two parks, I don't stop and read most billboards. As a NOBO you don't even see the register station for SNP unless you walk up the road (off the AT), however I probably would have figured it out once I departed the northend of SNP, because that station is right on the trail, with nothing else around.
Pedaling Fool
07-21-2009, 10:01
I purchased my SNP permit online cuz I knew when I was going so I didn't have to do the self register when I got there.
I didn't know you could do that; do they mail it to you?
dzierzak
07-21-2009, 11:46
Actually, both NOBO and SOBO registration kiosks are right on the AT. Kinda hard to miss.
dzierzak
07-21-2009, 11:47
Opps - both in SNP. Sorry...
Pedaling Fool
07-21-2009, 11:54
Actually, both NOBO and SOBO registration kiosks are right on the AT. Kinda hard to miss.
Are you sure?
I don't remember seeing the one on the southend (but I do go in a daze a lot when hiking:o). I've always walked up the road and registered at the ranger station and then I take the blueblaze up to the AT.
At GSMNP the one at Fontana is easy to miss because it's just a billboard in the marina parking lot. And there is not one at the northend, not sure where you register if SOBO'ing GSMNP.
heading northbound, you can pick up a permit at the Fontana Visitors station, located right on the dam, for the Smokies. SNP there is a kiosk right on the trail. Who 'purchased' their permit online?? they're free....Don't worry about what to do, there'll be lots of other hikers to let you know when you get there. If you want to get away from people, you may want to go Southbound.
dzierzak
07-21-2009, 12:43
The trail goes up into the woods well before the road station. It was still on the trail last year when I went through. It may have even been noted on the ATC map - I forget.
Pedaling Fool
07-21-2009, 12:47
Like I said, I go into a daze a lot:o I stopped reading all the billboards before I got out of North Carolina.:D
The trail goes up into the woods well before the road station. It was still on the trail last year when I went through. It may have even been noted on the ATC map - I forget.
That's convenient. I had to hike down hill to the road and its entrance station, but that was 10 years ago.
I suspect if you get a permit online, you get charged because NPS assumes you are driving into the park. But yes, if you walk in on the AT, there is no charge. (or at least there wasn't in the past).
Plodderman
07-21-2009, 13:11
Smokies for sure but it is pretty painless and thru hikers can use a tent.
ShoelessWanderer
07-21-2009, 13:27
if you want to avoid human interaction, the AT is the wrong place to be hiking.
Will 2nd that, unless you are hiking in winter. Then you get a lot more solitude. You will still cross paths with a few people though.
no permit needed in baxter. yet
Give them time. They'll get around to it.
I didn't know you could do that; do they mail it to you?
Yeah, they mailed it to me with the little plastic bag to put it in and also sent me some info on the SNP like a booklet about ticks and also the tourist map of the skyline drive / AT route. I filled out the paper for the permit that I printed online then sent it to them. I didnt know where I was staying each night but they mainly asked aprox mileage per day. They ask about where you will have a car parked also I guess in case someone reports it. I was dropped off in Waynesboro and I parked in Harpers Ferry so it wasnt much concern for me, I only listed the miles per day then they sent it to me.