Rocky Mountain National Park has come up with a new strategy to distribute overnight backpacking camping permits, opting to use a lottery system for the 2021 season.

On Tuesday, officials will randomly draw names of those who will be granted access to its camping reservation system, who can then submit trip requests in the park for July through October.

This system comes as RMNP has less availability for camping this season because of damage caused by the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome wildfires last year. About 30,000 acres of the park were burned during the fires.

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Parts of RMNP, including the Green Mountain and Front Lake trails, are still closed; however, some trails and campsites could reopen in time for the camping season in May as park staff clear debris, park officials said.

Demand is so great for the limited camping space that RMNP’s reservation system crashed on the first day it opened for backcountry camping permits.

People can enter their names into the backpacking camping drawing from Thursday morning to Sunday at 5 p.m. Names will be selected randomly, not in the order received.

Winners will be sent an email with instructions on how to complete the reservation request application.

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Tuesday’s drawing will be the first of a potential series of drawings. Participants whose names are not selected in the first drawing will automatically have their names added to the subsequent drawings.

There is not any information on how many drawings will be held or how many names will be chosen in each one. The timing of future drawings will be based on the volume of applicants, park officials said. 

The drawing is for overnight backpacking camping permits only. The drawing is not for camping reservations in park campgrounds accessed by vehicles or for park entrance fees.

Information on how to enter the drawing is available at nps.gov.