Win the permit lotteries and build a national park trip around them

This step produces one verified Recreation.gov account per adult in the group — the entry ticket to every lottery in this playbook. The trap is the word “every”: a Wave application lists the whole group, and each listed hiker must hold their own account and accept the invite within three days of submission, so the accounts have to exist before anyone applies.

1. Open recreation.gov and choose Sign Up; use a personal email per person — result emails and invites go only to the applicant's inbox.
2. Verify the email from the confirmation message, then add and verify a phone number under Profile; both are required for lottery entries.
3. Repeat for every adult who will hike — the Wave allows one application per person, and anyone named on an application must log in to accept.
4. Store each login in a password manager, and write each account's email plus full legal name on the master calendar — rangers check photo ID against the permit name.
5. If a Grand Canyon river trip is a target, also create a free trip-leader profile at grcariverpermits.nps.gov — the weighted lottery runs only there.