I went to the BC Office to see what, if anything useful I could find out about how the reservation process was going.
I explained I was asking on behalf of others. I got no dog in this fight.
Frankly, I didn't expect to learn a lot. And I didn't.
The rangers working the applications are at the very bottom of the totem pole so to speak.
So as you might imagine, they don't know a lot about what's going on and/or are not authorized to talk about it.
When I got into the general issue about "transparency" and the importance of faith and credibility in the system...
They deferred any questions like that, and properly so imo, to Brian(their Boss) as those involve "policy".
The one important thing that I did learn related to the infamous "time stamps" and the controversy and issues involved with them.
According to the ranger I spoke to, Pay.gov was able to recover and correct
some time stamps on
some applications.
No way for the BC Office to know which applications were affected though.
The result being that the time stamp YOU have on YOUR information at home
may not be the
same time time stamp that is on your application currently at the BC Office. Stress the word "may".
They don't know any details of how the corrections were found or made, etc. etc.
I want to add quickly...
The BC Office is working from applications that were forwarded to them from Pay.gov.
In other words they cannot tell you the "why this" or "why that" with regard to any specific application.
They're just working the apps as given to them.
The ranger I spoke to said they believe they'll finish the applications before "mid May".
I know that none of this is big news nor does it make anyone happy.
Regarding yours and your wife's application...
I asked about your situation. They couldn't explain how that happened.
Said they would have to look at the apps etc. etc.
While they aren't saying so, it's pretty clear that
nobody is happy with this new system.
The Backcountry Rangers
know, believe me,
they know how unhappy all of you are with this fiasco.
At this point they are just working the process the best they can to get your permits issued asap.
They're very aware that many of you have vacation time issues, airline and accommodation reservations , and so on to deal with.
pete