While there remain plenty of cheap traveloptions, including cheapairplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages,visiting certain American parks can only be accomplished by first winning alottery.
The odds of winning one dollar on certain scratch ticketsare just over 10 percent. The odds ofwinning a permit to visit Coyote Buttes North, home of the famous Wave, areabout 4 percent during peak season.
To prevent certain parts of Americas park system frombeing overrun by visitors, some parks have instituted a lottery system forentrance.
The following are some of the best lottery limited Americanparks, according to Caroline Teel:
CoyoteButtes North is home to The Wave a surreal looking natural sandstone rockformation that rolls across the desert landscape. It is featured as desktop wallpaper onWindows 7. To protect this fragileformation, only 20 people are permitted to visit it each day, with 10 permitsdistributed in advance in an online lottery and the remaining 10 spots drawnduring a same day walk in lottery.
DenaliPark Road runs along a 92 mile stretch along the breathtaking Alaskarange. It is the only road in the Denali. The scenic path attracts tourists for itsmountain and valley views and wildlife sightings. After the road became too crowded, drawingalmost 2,000 vehicles daily, the Parks Service placed a limit the number ofvehicles to 400 permit holders per day.
PrivateGrand Canyon Rafting self-guided raft trips from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creekused to have a 27-year waitlist. In 2012 the National Parke Service replacedthis waiting list with a lottery. Thisweighted lottery gives people who have unsuccessfully entered in previous yearsa better chance at winning than first-timers. Only 460 permits are awarded each year.
Guidedbear viewings at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary and Refuge are limited to 10people each day between June 7th and August 25th so as tonot disturb the bears. During the summerup to 144 wild brown bears descend on this river to fish for the thousands ofsalmon that swim past during their upstream migration. Lottery winners are allowed to camp at thecampground, visit the sanctuary, and attend guided bear viewing sessions.
HalfDome is Yosemites most famous attraction. Getting there involves scrambling up steep granite domes using steelcables and wooden planks as makeshift stairs to reach the summit. This hike attracts hundreds of visitors daily. Steel cables are only up from late May toOctober, and during this time only 300 permits are issued daily for the top ofHalf Dome. Weekdays visitors have a 7percent chance of success for the preseason lottery, versus 2 percent onweekends.
PhantomRanch is one of the most exclusive accommodations in the world. While its cost is quite reasonable at $51 perperson for a dorm room, getting there can be challenging. The Phantom Rach is located at the bottom ofthe Grand Canyon and is only accessible by hiking or riding a mule theapproximately 7.5 miles down, or by rafting in via the Colorado River. The ranch recently changed its reservationsystem to a lottery system.
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