Each year about 23,000 people apply to be one of the 11,500 allowed to backpack overnight in the Grand Canyon. The only way to get a permit is by lining up at the Park office on the day they become available, or by mailing or faxing in a request. People lined up at dawn around the office have the obvious advantage over callers fighting for the one open fax line. They often have to redial for hours at a time because they keep getting busy signals. The only thing worse that waiting in line at dawn in Arizona for a permit would be standing in an office for three hours constantly punching “redial.”

So the bad news is that the new system will only allow for permits by fax or mail. Local guides are upset that they’ll have to compete like everyone else, and the rest of the world is mad that the Grand Canyon can’t upgrade to a 1998-style website and allow online reservations. The new permit system will take effect in February.