Totally worth registering for the 6$ permit! Gives you combi does to all the locks in the area. It’s beautiful out here. Pretty passable dirt road (our G20 camper van had no problems). Sunsets were so so pretty and for us Washingtonians, camping in the desert amongst the saguaros was 👌🏼. Still a pretty busy area mid week in Feb. We had to drive a ways in to find a site but arrived right as the sun was setting so I imagine most folks were already set up for the night.