Applying for a PCT permit

Applying for the PCT permit turned out to be a little bit like Glastonbury. We'd heard lots of stories about people not getting the dates they wanted so ended up taking a lot of precautions! This was one of the first steps we took in making our trip official, so it was quite a nerve wracking time.

For anyone wanting to do a hike longer than 500 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail you'll need to apply for a PCT long distance permit. These permits are free but are required on trail, especially in the national parks. They also help keep the trail from getting destroyed. For most who are hiking southbound, getting the right date can get quite competitive to get the places you want, especially if you are planning on setting off in April.

This year there were two release dates, one in November and one in January, with 35 places becoming available in release 1, followed by a further 15 in release 2. Unfortunately the application form was hammered as soon as it went live. As the form had a 13 minute timeout, a lot of people failed to get all the way through on the first attempt due to the pages not loading, which caused a lot of frustration as we saw on the Facebook pages we were following. Joal's application went through first time and he was therefore able to apply for the date he wanted. Jenny, on the other hand, took about 30 tense minutes to get through, eventually having to settle for a start day different from Joal.

From our experience a couple of tips that help you:

1. Don't apply for the Whitney Permit as part of your application. This will add extra steps to your journey.

2. Don't donate to the PCTA during your application. Whilst this sounds harsh, there are plenty of other opportunities for you to do this and we saw a lot of failures on the Facebook thread as people timed out of the payment part of the application.

3. Have patience. As a lot of people were timing out, a lot of spots become free as people were forced to reapply. Jen had to start the application at least 10 times before finally getting through.

4. Don't complete the application more than once. The PCTA will cancel all applications if you do this.