Packing for Adventure

Now that you know how our journey started and ended, I’m going to rewind a bit to talk about how we even managed to stay at Phantom Ranch. This is where I feel like I can offer the most valuable advice—because while I loved the experience once we arrived, I was completely unimpressed with the availability of information beforehand.

Let’s start with the trickiest part: getting a reservation.
I don’t have any magical tips or tricks to beat the system (though I do have some tips for scoring a Half Dome permit—which I’ll share in a future post).

As you may recall from a prior post, I didn’t decide to attempt the trek to the Phantom Ranch until I had successfully made it to the top of the Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. Almost the second we got home from that trip, I started planning our next big adventure. I was so young and naive back then (two years ago). I figured “we are in hiking shape right now, it’s only September, we can go in October!”

I was pretty bummed to discover that if you want to stay at Phantom Ranch—and I absolutely did (go big or go home!)—you have to enter a lottery system that opens 15 months in advance. Otherwise, your only hope is to check the website daily for cancellations… which are rare.

Here’s how it works:

• The lottery opens on the 1st of each month for stays 15 months later.
• They draw winners on the last day of the month.
• Then, at midnight on the 1st, they release any unclaimed reservations for that month.

My calendar became a nonstop string of reminders: apply for the next lottery window, check for midnight openings, rinse and repeat. I received many polite rejection emails.

But finally, at midnight on June 1st, 2024, I found an opening! I booked it instantly for June 23rd, 2025. I didn’t stop to think about how hot it might be in Arizona in late June—I just booked it as fast as I could.

And let me just say: their website is awful. It took me about an hour of trying before my booking actually went through.

The next morning, I called to confirm and ask a few questions—knowing I had a whole year to sort out the details. That’s when they asked if I wanted to use the duffel service (a mule carries your gear down and back up), and whether I wanted dinner, breakfast, and a sack lunch. I just said yes to everything—I didn’t want to risk missing out if I changed my mind later. Thankfully, they told me I could cancel anything up to two days in advance for a full refund. Super reasonable!

With everything booked and paid for, it was time to figure out how we were getting there and where we’d sleep before and after. Once that was all in place, the reality hit: late June is an absolutely brutal time for a long, strenuous hike in Arizona.

So I figured I’d try for a backup plan.

I decided to try for an October 2025 reservation when that lottery opened a few months later. But again—another polite rejection email.

So on October 1st, 2024, I waited (impatiently) for midnight to strike. Sure enough—there were three unclaimed nights available, and two were back-to-back! I frantically tried to book the two-night stay but kept getting error messages (again… awful website). I tried for just one night. Same error.

It’s now 12:30 AM, I had work the next day, and I’m in bed switching between two different browser apps on my phone trying to get it to work. Eventually, I gave up on the phone and got out of bed to try on my laptop. Now I was toggling between two phones and two computer browsers, desperate for success. I kept at it until around 2:30 AM, when I finally gave up. I can only assume that there were other hiking enthusiasts also trying to book the unclaimed reservations and the server couldn’t handle the traffic?

At that point, I had to accept it: we were doing Phantom Ranch in the heat of June.
So I committed. Doubled down on prepping myself physically and mentally—and nagging Chris to do the same.