Hello,

I am thinking of cancelling a reservation and giving it to some friends, but I am hesitant because I am uncertain about how long the gap is between me cancelling and the permit quotas showing back up on recreation.gov. Does anyone know if it is instantaneous? I've seen some people say it can take multiple hours... but don't know if this is just the BWCA alerts for the new permits or the actual recreation.gov permit quotas filling back up. Thanks for any insight here!

It is random. Anywhere from 12-36 hours to actually show up again as available is what I have heard.

Perhaps you could just change your existing permit to list one of your friends as alternate trip leader.

Unfortunately, this is not an option.

They can sign up for "permit alerts" to get notified when it is released. No guarantee that someone else won't grab it or it won't release in the middle of the night, but the best option available.

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Yelin: "Unfortunately, this is not an option. "

Yes, I believe this is the case because of the fear people would sell a permit and name the buyer as the alternate.