On the flip side, not having the nonrefundable fee means everyone would put in regardless of how serious they actually were. Working and lower class being less likely to know what days they have off is an issue that would also exist if it was a daily lottery (in addition to taking more time for them and creating more expenses for the park driving prices up further) or a first come first serve where they're waiting in long lines for a daily ticket.

There isn't likely to be a perfect system but I think the lottery system creates a better balance, and sadly every system based on time and/or money is going to be biased against the working class. It's a US issue not a park lottery issue.

That being said it would be nice if it was based on a sliding scale for payment with the wealthy subsidizing the lower income hikers, and if there were free/lowered cost passes set aside for the public (many libraries have free passes to local parks & museums). I don't know the specifics for this park though, they may already have programs in place.