Super Sunday

Luck. Chance. Serendipity. Coincidence. Karma. Destiny. Fate. Fortune. 

Facsimile. 

I will never forget Super Bowl Sunday 2015. But not because of the game or the commercials or the chicken wings. Nope, not even that horrible call at the end. 

On the Saturday night before the game, our hope of obtaining a permit to hike the Muir Trail this year hit a desperate low-point. While both of us managed to fax our applications for Saturday, the receiving fax was continuously busy for the Sunday application time-window (5:00PM PST Saturday-7:30AM PST Sunday). 

Busy?!

I was the first to challenge the brute, but all of my attempts to dial in on the wyrm failed. I resigned to retreat until the morning. My brother tried valiantly for three hours, over one hundred times. Defeated and deflated, he gave up at the stroke of midnight, waking me up with a woeful text breaking the news that he couldn't get through, and he hoped I would in the morning. 

The next morning, sword and shield in-hand (hazelnut latte, chocolate croissant), I went at the foul beast. But despite my numerous attempts to send a fax both online and from a traditional machine, I was bested by the vile creature, and over one hundred attempts failed. 7:30AM PST ticked past me tauntingly from the crookedly hung clock in the FedEx Kinko's, eliminating our chance to apply for a permit not subject to the new exit quota, and perhaps to hike the JMT this year. 

My brother began to consider abandoning his heraldry, going rogue in the mountains without a proper permit. I suspected a horrible conspiracy. The fax machine must be disconnected. Over-loaded. Unplugged. Out of paper. Out of ink. Out of something. Of course a federal agency relies upon fax for something this important. How efficient. 

I turned to the JMT Yahoo Group for help, asking the greater hiking community if anyone else was having difficulty getting through. Several members responded with similar tales of defeat, and endless busy/no response signals. Not necessarily helpful information, since we already knew we weren't getting through. 

I devised a new strategy. Was anyone able to get a fax to send? After asking the Yahoo Group, at 9:30AM PST, a member said his online fax was sent. I immediately fired one off online and called my brother to tell him, and despite the timing, he decided to stop into his station on his way to stock up for the game, and faxed his Sunday application a whole four or five hours after the lottery window had closed. 

After the game I checked back with the Yahoo Group, and the member who first claimed his fax finally went through said he received confirmation of his permit reservation. I checked my email for the 1,000th time that day: nothing. I'd be suspended in limbo for now. 

Naturally I texted my brother, telling him some dude on the Yahoo Group claimed he got his reservation for Sunday and that its verified he faxed it after 7:30AM PST. Weird. 

My phone suddenly rang: it was my brother. Nothing unusual, as often times we'll start a conversation via text and transition to a phone call to talk details.

He wasn't the guy from the Yahoo Group, but he got just as lucky! I launched myself six feet off of the couch and performed a tactical roll into the bedroom, hooting and hollering, vaulting onto the bed, jumping up and down. 'We got it?! What date?! 7/19?! The day we wanted?! Happy Isles to Mt. Whitney?! The day we wanted?!'

The day we wanted. What's more, on an application faxed in four hours too late and picked on a Sunday. The very last day we could try for a permit without being burdened by the yolk of the new exit quota. It's nothing short of a miracle we got it.

My two applications for Sunday and Monday were denied, the latter of which was specifically denied because the new exit quota was filled. That means there was space at the trailhead I wanted, but no more spots on the JMT exiting over Donahue Pass. Message boards have since been filled with the same woeful tale of denied applications because of the new quota, forcing many to give up on the dream of hiking the JMT this year. 

Believe it or not, acquiring this specific wilderness permit was the single most (seemingly) insurmountable obstacle to our specific and tailored plan to hike the JMT this summer. 

Now it's officially OFFICIAL. This summer, my brother and I return to the Sierras to follow in Dad's footsteps on the John Muir Trail. The adventure begins July 19, 2015!