We’ve Got a Date
It’s the morning of January 24. Nearly two thousand hikers are swarming the Pacific Crest Trail Association’s web site. At 10:30 a.m. PST every one of them starts clicking away in a hope of securing a permit for 2017 hiking season. At 10:31 a.m. the web site crashes and the next hour feels like a bushwhack through a virtual jungle of the nonfunctional web site.
Once in a while somebody reports a success on Facebook page dedicated to the PCT Class of 2017 or other social media, and every time this happens, the rest of us clicks even more frantically.
My breakthrough comes around 11:10. A simple click, just like the hundred or so I made so far, but this time the small loading circle brings up the application page, and I fill it quickly, before my luck runs out. Few minutes later a confirmation e-mail lands in my mailbox.
Only 35 people are allowed to apply for each day. The permits are vanishing fast, and our nervousness grows until Dave too secures his spot, one of the last 3 remaining for our day.
On April 24 we will touch the Southern Terminus of Pacific Trail in Campo, CA and we will start our long walk home. One hundred and fifty days, perhaps more. Not every one of them will be easy. There will be many days, I’m sure, just as frustrating and disheartening as today was but difficult trails often lead to beautiful destinations, and I think I’m ready to walk this one.
thanks for this awesome web page, i like it
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Yes!
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Yeah buddy! Hoping to get out there next year! Had no clue getting the permit was such a hassle! Geez! Good luck out there! 😉
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Good luck and happy trails!
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Congrats and good luck! Maybe we’ll cross paths as you trek through Yosemite. I’m up there a lot.
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I’ll see you there! Had the same experience trying to get my permit as you described. I will be departing on the 24th as well. Given the heavy snow year, I will be hiking to the Kennedy Meadows general store outside of Inyokern. I will then fly up to Medford, Oregon and attack the 1,000 miles south to the Kennedy Meadows general store. This will put me in the high Sierras in early to mid July instead of early June.
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Hi Kevin. Seems like your pace will be faster than ours. If everything goes according plan, we should arrive at Kennedy Meadows at the very end of June. Hopefully the Sierra will be safe to cross by then, we would much prefer to continue walking North but we’ll look into options for a flip if we need to.
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