For the first time since I can remember...I'm not available on permit day. Stuck in an annual all day board meeting.

What does the situation typically look like the day after? Most taken? Still plenty available?

Most permits will be gone by noon on permit day.

Over several months many will be released back in so you just have to watch.

I’m too lazy to look up the stats but it’s something like a 1/4 to a 1/3 of all permits booked on permit day will never get used… either through no shows or releases with less than 30 days… the no shows don;’t help you but if you can plan a date and be willing to shift between a few entry points I’ve found it pretty easy to get a permit. It’s just hard to get a group to commit with the unknown…even though this is consistently happening…but I get the apprehension.

T

Availability after "permit day" will depend on the entry point. Adam has posted 2 analyses (so far) of permit availability on the upper and lower Gunflint Trail entry points.
Lower Gunflint permit availability
Upper Gunflint permit availability
You will notice that a few of the lower Gunflint EPs such as Lizz/Swamp are 80% booked on permit day whereas others in that same area (e.g. Meeds, Bower Trout, Morgan etc.) are around 30% booked on permit day.

There is usually a little lull around July 4th if that helps.

Depends on the EP. Some sell out for the season on permit day, some almost never sell out entirely. But like others have said, a lot of permits get kicked back into the system over the course of the season so if you're dead set on a highly sought after EP and they're all gone by the 29th, you probably can still get one later on.

Speckled: "For the first time since I can remember...I'm not available on permit day. Stuck in an annual all day board meeting.

What does the situation typically look like the day after? Most taken? Still plenty available?"

At 8:58 I’d be making an emergency bathroom call.

Excellent suggestion eg. Take your laptop to a bathroom stall haha..
Plan B - Have someone else set it up, I have relinquished my permit registration duties to my trip partner who is much more hi tech than me and happy to do it. He got a Little Gabbro permit last year for late May, that’s like the holy grail for newbie type trips, much faster fingers on a keypad than I have for sure. You gotta have someone willing to help you out. Good Luck!

I sent an email. I could see myself in your situation someday. Either way, best of luck!

JC

Do you work with an outfitter? Maybe tap them this year for help.

egknuti: "

Speckled: "For the first time since I can remember...I'm not available on permit day. Stuck in an annual all day board meeting.

What does the situation typically look like the day after? Most taken? Still plenty available?"

At 8:58 I’d be making an emergency bathroom call. "

egknuti wins the post of the day! LOL

Dude, you live in Duluth. It shouldn’t be hard to check for options unless you are truly committed to that entry point.

I like the suggestion of

-delegate to someone else
-go through an outfitter

egknuti: "

Speckled: "For the first time since I can remember...I'm not available on permit day. Stuck in an annual all day board meeting.


What does the situation typically look like the day after? Most taken? Still plenty available?"

At 8:58 I’d be making an emergency bathroom call. "

I did an interview once in the canoe...camera off of course. :-)

egknuti: "

Speckled: "For the first time since I can remember...I'm not available on permit day. Stuck in an annual all day board meeting.


What does the situation typically look like the day after? Most taken? Still plenty available?"

At 8:58 I’d be making an emergency bathroom call. "

Exactly!

There's some great suggestions on here I won't repeat. Just got on to say that some of my favorite trips have been through entry points chosen at the last minute merely because they were available. There are outstanding trips through seemingly less desirable entry points.

Dreamer: "There's some great suggestions on here I won't repeat. Just got on to say that some of my favorite trips have been through entry points chosen at the last minute merely because they were available. There are outstanding trips through seemingly less desirable entry points.
"

That's what I was going to say. Never took part in permit day and never had a bad trip. But we stopped tripping in 2013, so perhaps things are a great deal different now.

Dreamer: "There's some great suggestions on here I won't repeat. Just got on to say that some of my favorite trips have been through entry points chosen at the last minute merely because they were available. There are outstanding trips through seemingly less desirable entry points.
"

For some reason, the poem "The Road Not Taken" comes to mind.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost