Permit cancellation

[balzaccom]

We were so pleased with ourselves.  We had remembered to act early and reserve exactly the wilderness permit we wanted, for Rafferty Creek in the middle of June, to get up into the upper reaches of the Merced Canyon early in the season.  And we got it.  And then fate intervened. 

I was invited to speak at the Smithsonian about a topic near and dear to my heart...and that's an invitation I can't pass up, even at the risk of losing our permit for Yosemite.  So yesterday I called the Yosemite Wilderness office and explained the situation.  And I was delighted to learn that we can apply the charges we paid for the cancelled permit towards any other wilderness permit in Yosemite this year. 

No, we won't have time to get into the Upper Merced this year.  But we will take a trip in Yosemite sometime later in the season.  And we've already got our permit paid for!

And by the way, the wilderness office seemed surprised and grateful that we would call to cancel. Apparently most people don't do that...

Is this the same policy in other parks?