[Awclist] [Fwd: RRFW Riverwire - HELP AVAILABLE FOR GRAND CANYON LOTTERY]

[Thomas Robey]

-------- Original Message --------

RRFW Riverwire -- HELP AVAILABLE FOR GRAND CANYON LOTTERY

May 7, 2007

 

Grand Canyon National Park has initiated its online lottery for river 
trips to raft the Colorado River in the park for the 2008 self-guided 
river running season.

 

River Runners for Wilderness has updated an online Lottery tutorial, 
with pages captured from this year's lottery application.

 

The tutorial is located as a pdf file at: Lottery Primer 
<http://www.rrfw.org/pdfs/lottery.pdf> or by going to our website at 
www.rrfw.org <http://www.rrfw.org/> and clicking the "Lottery Primer" 
link on the "Lottery" tab.

 

_Please note that entrants who use Internet Explorer version 7 are 
having trouble locating the trip calendar when attempting date 
selection. Upon clicking the calendar icons next to the date selection, 
the pop-up launch calendar appears at the extreme top of the page. 
Careful alignment may be required to view the entire calendar. The Park 
is aware of the problem and has engaged programmers to re-align the 
pop-up window for IE7 users._

 

The RRFW Grand Canyon Lottery telephone assistance line is also 
available through the River Runners for Wilderness Lottery Help Line, at 
(928) 856-9065, or by email: tommartin at rrfw.org on a first-come 
first-serve basis. This help line has been set up to assist lottery 
candidates in navigating the myriad web pages required to be profiled, 
submit an application and pay the required fee. The Grand Canyon River 
Permits Office also offers help at 1-800-959-9164 or by email at 
grca_riv at nps.gov.

 

Lottery applications are being accepted through May 28, 2007. The online 
lottery registration and application can be found at

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/weightedlottery.htm

 

The "Waited Lottery" has two steps, a registration component and a 
lottery application component. Completion of the registration process 
allows entry to the lottery but does not require it. Registration is 
free and collects profile information on the lottery permit applicant.

 

Once registered, the second step is to submit an online lottery 
application. Unlike any other lottery in the country, up to five 
preference points are awarded to applicants who have stayed away from 
rafting the canyon for the last five years. No points are awarded for 
losing previous lotteries (and the $25 application fee), as is standard 
practice for hunting lotteries across the country.

 

The application costs $25, the highest lottery fee for any river running 
permit in the United States and allows hopeful rafters to choose up to 
five dates from an online calendar.

 

River runners will need to decide the size of their group, as the 
available launch dates shown on the calendar are based on trip size. The 
two choices for trip size include a small trip size of 8 people or less, 
and a standard group size of 16 people or less.

 

Although the online calendar is divided into motorized and motor-free 
seasons, none of the small trips are available in the motor-free season.

 

The number of permits available in the off season greatly exceeds the 
number of permits in the primary season, so much so that only 13% of 
river runners in the primary summer season are self guided.

 

Trip lengths also change based on the time of year, from a forced-march 
sixteen day primary season trip to a more casual boat-in-the-snow 
twenty-five days in December and January.

 

Permits will be awarded shortly after the lottery is held. Be advised 
that all winners will be charged a $400 deposit prior to actually 
receiving a launch permit.

 

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RIVERWIRE is a free service to the community of river lovers from River 
Runners for Wilderness. Sign up your friends! Send an e-mail address to 
riverwire at rrfw.org and we'll add it to the RRFW RIVERWIRE e-mail alerts 
list. Join RRFW's listserver to stay abreast of and participate in the 
latest river issues. It's as easy as sending a blank e-mail to 
Rafting_Grand_Canyon-subscribe at yahoogroups.com. Check out our great new 
book/guidebook special deals and donate at RRFW Store. RRFW is a project 
of Living Rivers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

 

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