Permits and lotteries, explained properly.

Coyote Buttes South is a different permit area with its own allocation, and it is a genuinely different day out: fewer people, less famous rock, and no single photo everyone has already seen. It runs on its own advance and daily lotteries through the same Recreation.gov system.

The catch is the driving. The access tracks on the south side are sand, and they are harder than anything on the north side. Winning the permit and then finding the vehicle will not reach the trailhead is a specific and common way to waste a day. Ask about current conditions before you enter the lottery, not after you win.

Kanab makes a quieter base for Zion than Springdale does, and two of the park's headline hikes run on their own permits. Angels Landing needs one for the chained final stretch: there is a seasonal lottery that opens in blocks through the year, plus a day before lottery for anyone who missed it, both on Recreation.gov.

The Subway, the canyoneering route through the Left Fork, runs on a separate advance reservation that opens months ahead and fills within minutes. Neither is a Kanab office matter; both are online. I keep the fuller detail, and the timing that shifts each year, on the three parks guide, and I check it live before quoting anyone a date.

White Pocket is the plot twist of the whole area: some of the strangest rock anywhere, and no lottery or reservation to see it. People assume it must be permitted, because it looks like the Wave's twin, and it simply is not.

The gate is the road instead. White Pocket sits at the end of miles of deep, soft sand that routinely stops ordinary vehicles and even some capable trucks. Getting there safely takes a high clearance four wheel drive and the experience to air down and keep moving, or a seat on one of the guided tours that run out of Kanab. Go in unprepared and the desert, not a ranger, is what turns you back.

This is the good news in the whole system. The longest hikeable slot canyon anywhere does not need a lottery. Day hikers into Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch buy an inexpensive day use permit, priced per person and also per dog, and that purchase is the entire process.

One change worth knowing: these used to be paid in cash at a trailhead box and are now bought through Recreation.gov before you go. Overnight trips through Buckskin and Paria Canyon are a separate, much more limited lottery, so do not confuse the easy day permit with the hard overnight one.

The dunes west of town are a Utah state park, and they work the way state parks do: a day use fee charged per vehicle, a reduced rate for Utah seniors, and no reservation needed to visit for the day. Camping there is booked separately and opens on a rolling window several months ahead.

Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon each charge their own entrance fee on top of any permit, which is why the parks live on their own pages rather than here. The dunes are the easy one: you drive up, you pay at the booth, you play.

It is worth saying plainly, because the permit reputation puts people off: most of what you can walk to around Kanab is free and unrationed. The trail from the end of 100 East to the rim above town, the city loops on K Hill and through Tom's Canyon, Jackson Flat Reservoir on the south edge, and Belly of the Dragon up near Mount Carmel all cost nothing and need no arranging.

The lotteries cover a short list of specific areas. They are not the price of entry to the region, and if you moved here you would spend most of your outdoor time on ground that never asks for a permit at all.