Feb­ru­ary might be short on days, but it’s stacked with future adven­ture oppor­tu­ni­ty. Plen­ty of per­mits for those who like to plan ahead become avail­able in Feb­ru­ary, and whether it’s sum­mit­ting Mount Whit­ney or spend­ing the night in the Enchant­ments, Feb­ru­ary has plen­ty of rea­sons to make cir­cles on the cal­en­dar. While every month opens up new oppor­tu­ni­ties to reserve a space to hike the Nar­rows Route in Zion top-down, these awe­some hik­ing and adven­ture per­mits only become avail­able in Feb­ru­ary.

Mount Whit­ney lot­tery, opens Feb­ru­ary 1

For those look­ing to hike or back­pack to the high­est point in the con­tigu­ous Unit­ed States, Feb­ru­ary is an impor­tant month to apply for a per­mit. Day hik­ers, back­pack­ers, and tech­ni­cal moun­tain climbers alike need a per­mit to sum­mit Whit­ney, and the appli­ca­tion peri­od for the lot­tery runs from Feb­ru­ary 1 to March 15. Inter­est­ed vis­i­tors can apply for a per­mit through Recreation.gov, and it helps great­ly to do a lit­tle research to bet­ter your chances. One of the first things to keep in mind is that the route is only con­sid­ered non-tech­ni­cal in the snow-free months of July through Sep­tem­ber.

Grand Canyon non-com­mer­cial raft per­mits, Feb­ru­ary 1

For those with the skills and expe­ri­ence to lead their own trip through the Grand Canyon, the first three weeks of Feb­ru­ary is the time to apply for a per­mit for the fol­low­ing year. That means for a 2020 non-com­mer­cial trip, Feb­ru­ary 2019 is the time to apply on the Weight­ed Lot­tery page. Fol­low-up lot­ter­ies occur through­out the year for changed trip plans and can­cel­la­tions. If you win a launch date, it’s impor­tant for you to pay your fees and not risk los­ing your spots.

Mount Saint Helens climb­ing per­mits, avail­able Feb­ru­ary 1

Admin­is­tered by the Mount St. Helen’s Insti­tute, per­mits are required to the climb to the crater atop Mount Saint Helens between April 1 to Octo­ber 31. Since walk-up per­mits are lim­it­ed to 500 peo­ple a day between April 1 and May 15 and just 100 peo­ple per day between May 16—October 31), per­mits are occa­sion­al­ly avail­able through­out the warmer weath­er dates, but can be com­pet­i­tive and non-exis­tent on the week­ends and hol­i­days. Part of the per­mit pur­chase goes to the work being done by the Insti­tute, and the view from the top is well worth the stren­u­ous effort of the hike lead­ing towards it.

10th Moun­tain Divi­sion Hut lot­tery, appli­ca­tions due by Feb­ru­ary 14 (mem­bers only)

For 10th Moun­tain mem­bers, appli­ca­tions for the next year’s hut reser­va­tion sys­tem are due by Feb­ru­ary 14. Fol­low­ing a new online sys­tem, appli­cants look­ing to nab one of these pre­miere back­coun­try huts for the next win­ter will need to ver­i­fy their mem­ber­ship (start­ing at $35/month) and can then apply for an unlim­it­ed amount of trips and alter­na­tives for the fol­low­ing sea­son. Non-mem­bers will need to wait until the sec­ond lot­tery process, which takes places the first busi­ness day of June.

Enchant­ments overnight per­mit lot­tery, appli­ca­tion opens Feb­ru­ary 15

The Enchant­ment area with­in the Alpine Lakes Wilder­ness of Wash­ing­ton eas­i­ly lives up to its descrip­tive name, and any­one look­ing to spend the night in this fairy­tale world between mid-May and Octo­ber needs to car­ry a per­mit. Per­mits are award­ed through a lot­tery sys­tem, and appli­cants need to apply for the lot­tery between Feb­ru­ary 15 and March 2. How­ev­er, a small per­cent­age of overnight per­mits are left aside to be made avail­able for dai­ly lot­ter­ies. Those look­ing to day-hike the demand­ing trek don’t need a per­mit, though they do need to reg­is­ter at the trail­head and be ready for a full-day adven­ture.

Supai / Hava­su Falls camp­ing per­mit, Feb­ru­ary 1

Of all the enchant­i­ng places to vis­it with­in the Grand Canyon, the remote vil­lage of Supai often tops out as one of the most sought after. Home to the Hava­su­pai Tribe, the area’s blue-green waters and stun­ning canyon scenery, includ­ing the well pho­tographed Hava­su Falls, draws tourists from around the world.

Due to the remote loca­tion and frag­ile envi­ron­ment, day hikes into Supai are strict­ly pro­hib­it­ed, and com­pet­i­tive overnight per­mits are the only way to see and spend the night in this mag­i­cal canyon envi­ron­ment. For 2019, per­mits for the year open on Feb­ru­ary 1st. Inter­est­ed vis­i­tors can stay up to date with the Hava­su­pai and Hava­su Falls Face­book Page.