# Rock Creek Lake (Tamarack Lakes) Trailhead

Source: Wayproof (https://wayproof.dev/trailheads/rock-creek-lake-tamarack-lakes/)  
Generated: 2026-09-12  
Structured version: https://wayproof.dev/trailheads/rock-creek-lake-tamarack-lakes.json

Planning aid, not a booking guarantee. Verify against the official source before acting on any date below.

East shore of Rock Creek Lake, below Mosquito Flat; primary access for Mount Morgan (S).

## Permit

- Permit: Inyo NF Wilderness Permit (John Muir / Ansel Adams / Golden Trout-Inyo / Hoover-Inyo entries)
- Permit group ID: `inyo_jmw_aaw`
- Agency: Inyo National Forest
- Quota required: yes
- Quota season: May 1 - Nov 1
- Fees: $6/permit + $5/person ($15/person if the trip enters or exits via the Mt. Whitney Zone)
- Apply: https://www.recreation.gov/permits/233262
- Source last updated: 2026-07-08; last verified by Wayproof: 2026-07-23

### Key dates

- First release (60% of the quota) -- opens 182 days before your entry date at 07:00 America/Los_Angeles -- booking today covers entry around 2027-03-13. (60% of each trailhead's daily quota opens 6 months before entry.)
- Second release (40% of the quota) -- opens 14 days before your entry date at 07:00 America/Los_Angeles -- booking today covers entry around 2026-09-26. (Remaining 40% opens 2 weeks before entry, same release time.)

### How reservations work

60% of each trailhead's daily quota reservable on recreation.gov starting 6 months (7am Pacific) before entry; remaining 40% released 2 weeks before entry, same release time. Reservations can be made up to the day of the trip if quota space remains; cancelled permits return space to the calendar within 24 hours.

### Notes

Inyo NF issues permits for the John Muir, Ansel Adams, Hoover and Golden Trout Wildernesses, so it administers part of Hoover alongside Humboldt-Toiyabe NF. Popular trailheads (Kearsarge Pass, Bishop Pass, Rush Creek, Cottonwood) can sell out within minutes of release. Outside May 1 - Nov 1 permits are free/self-issue, no reservation needed.

### Travel into neighbouring units

Honored for continuous travel into neighboring parks: Yosemite NP (Tioga Pass, Saddlebag Lake, Virginia Lakes, Walker Lake/Bloody Canyon corridors) and Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP (Taboose, Sawmill, Baxter, Shepherd Pass, Kearsarge Pass, Cottonwood Pass corridors) — no separate NPS permit needed. Per the official page: this requires *continuous* wilderness travel: a break (exiting to town and re-entering elsewhere) requires a new permit from the agency where the next section starts, except a reasonable resupply break for long-distance through-hikers.

## Rules in force

What applies once you hold the permit. A rule whose scope is not "this permit" is inherited from state law or an agency-wide policy and applies to other permits in the same jurisdiction too.

### Fire

- **[CA state law]** A free California Campfire Permit is required before you may have a campfire, camp stove, lantern or barbeque -- but holding one does NOT mean fires are allowed where you're going. Local restrictions override it. Two different permits exist; for everywhere this project covers, take the one for federal- and state-controlled lands, not the private-lands one. TWO PERMIT TYPES, and the wrong one is not a valid document. CAL FIRE issues one permit for federal- and state-controlled lands, covering campfires, barbeques and portable stoves, and a separate one for private lands, which additionally requires written permission from the landowner. Both carry the same caveat that local burn restrictions may apply. Every trailhead in this project sits on federal land -- national forest, national park, BLM, or the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit -- except two on East Bay Regional Park District land (Del Valle and Stanford Ave), which is a special district fitting neither category cleanly; which permit applies there is not confirmed. The same portal also issues permits for burning debris, which is a different product and not what a backcountry traveller needs. THE PERMIT IS A PRECONDITION, NOT AN AUTHORISATION: CAL FIRE's own guidance says to check local rules, since many areas restrict or ban campfires outright, especially at elevation or in high fire danger. Where a wilderness bans fires, the permit still matters for a camp stove. YOU MUST CARRY IT: Eldorado NF states the permit has to be available for rangers and other officials to check while you are camping, so an unproduced permit is a permit you do not have. The lantern question is settled: CAL FIRE's permits FAQ omits lanterns from its enumeration, but the campfire-safety page and Eldorado NF's own FAQ both include them, so the fuller list stands on two sources against one summary. The issuing forest states it is also required in some developed campgrounds -- being in a campground is not a reliable exemption. Free, valid for a full calendar year (January 1 to December 31), and available from CAL FIRE, US Forest Service or BLM offices as well as online. The signer must be 18 or older, so a group of minors cannot self-issue. Obtain it at readyforwildfire.org/permits, which links to the portal at permit.preventwildfiresca.org. NOTE: Eldorado NF's own camping page cites 'www.preventwildfiresca.org', which does not resolve -- readyforwildfire.org is the working entry point. (36 CFR 261.52(k); PRC 4433) Source: https://www.readyforwildfire.org/permits/ Evidence: verified, last checked 2026-09-12; log entries none-2026-09-12-01, none-2026-09-12-02, none-2026-09-12-03, none-2026-09-12-04.

## Location

- Coordinates: 37.4436, -118.7261
- Elevation: 9,700 ft
- Side of range: east
- Wilderness: John Muir Wilderness
- Agency: Inyo NF

## Verification history

- inyo_jmw_aaw-2026-07-22-01 2026-07-22 [new-group] Initial May 1 - Nov 1 season and 60/40 6mo/2wk split from web-search synthesis.
- inyo_jmw_aaw-2026-07-22-02 2026-07-22 [confirms-existing] Independently corroborated the May1-Nov1 season and 60/40 6mo/2wk split exactly. Added that this page states Inyo NF also issues permits for the Hoover Wilderness portion (not just John Muir/Ansel Adams/Golden Trout), which the hoover-permit_group entry above already implied from the other side. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/inyo/permits/wilderness-permits