The PCT Volume 19 Redux: Katie and I Get Back On the Trail (Barely)

[clink]

I'll have to read when you and T finish the trail. We might even be down for driving the rig up that way and joining in the celebration.

  What is the end of the PCT? Do you need your passport to officially finish it? Do you have to hike in and back to/from the border of Canada? is there an official tamale for bacon hand-off ceremonial exchange?

[Brad Young]

I fully expected to see you balancing your way across what was left of that bridge.

Sometimes I worry that you can read my mind. I seriously thought about it and might have done it if I didn't have a full size backpack on. Very likely for the best that we did it the way we did though.

Now I won't have to read again for 10 years! Okay...I'll have to read when you and T finish the trail. We might even be down for driving the rig up that way and joining in the celebration.

We'd be very happy for the company. Laura Dawson mentioned a "dream" where they make spectacular progress and catch up to Tricia and me and then all five of us finish over the border together. But since they only got half of what they wanted to get done in August (they got massively smoked out by Oregon forest fires), this seems unlikely.

By the time we're up there next summer I'll likely be done with work and Vicki and I may be gone for a month or more. And Tricia and I haven't decided yet how we'll finish - I'll respond to Clink's question about what the options are (there really are just two).

[Brad Young]

  What is the end of the PCT? Do you need your passport to officially finish it? Do you have to hike in and back to/from the border of Canada? is there an official tamale for bacon hand-off ceremonial exchange?

There are two ways to finish. Classically, before covid, one would reach the border and continue just over seven miles into Canada, finishing at a county-level park there called Manning Park. This is accessible by good quality paved roads from deeper in Canada.

During covid there was no entering Canada and hikers would simply turn around and return to the last trailhead south of the border (Harts Pass). It's 30.2 miles to the border from Harts Pass and so the round trip is 60.4 miles. The border's opening up again now, but one still needs a visa to cross. Even though the visas are pretty easy to get, lots of hikers are just turning around and returning to Harts Pass still.

And by the way, the Canadians have a specific name for the seven miles of trail from the Canadian Border to Manning Park. They call it the Pacific Crest Trail.

[JC w KC redux]

Sometimes I worry that you can read my mind.

No need to worry. It's true.

Laura Dawson mentioned a "dream" where they make spectacular progress and catch up to Tricia and me and then all five of us finish over the border together.

That is great.

I wouldn't mind travelling next summer but not back east again. I've been wanting to do a west coast jamboree and check out the Channeled Scablands in eastern Washington on the turnaround.

Now my other question - besides the knee one you didn't answer - is why the hell would you need more than a passport to enter Canada? I suspect the answer is because the trail doesn't have an official border crossing set up on it. They should have a toll booth set up like in Blazing Saddles ("Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload a' dimes!"). Alternatively, I kind of like the idea of crawling those last few miles through razor wire, land mines and various style booby traps. That should be a piece of cake for the two of you. Guess you're just gonna have to buy some camo or ninja garb and sneak across at night under a full moon (or better yet - with night vision goggles). 

[Brad Young]

Not sure why the visa, but you should search: "PCT Canadian border photo."

No border station? Nope. Just unlimited forest with an absolutely straight, 30 foot wide line cut through it as far as can be seen. It's almost eerie looking.

And reading my mind? Maybe it's true, but I take comfort in the fact that you dislike doing much reading 

[JC w KC redux]

According to the Pacific Crest Trail Association's website - when you reach the Canadian border you're done.
I also noticed that you only need to have a visa if you are not a U.S. citizen - otherwise you just need a Canada PCT Entry permit.

From the website

The Pacific Crest Trail is fundamentally a project of the United States and the official terminus is next to the Canadian border. As a National Scenic Trail that was designated by the Congress of the United States, you’ll have completed the PCT when you walk between Mexico and Canada. The 8.8 miles of trail inside of Canada, between the Northern Terminus at the Canadian border and Highway 3 near Manning Park Lodge, is a connector to the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. You’ll have completed the trail without having done that 8.8-mile connector trail. Be proud.

[Brad Young]

^^^

I'm quite impressed that you looked that stuff up! I thought that the PCT entry permit was a type of visa (and I swear that I've seen it called that on other sites). Did you look up any photos of the U.S./Canadian border? I tried to capture one and post it here, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.

And absolutely, one has done the PCT if they reach the border - how to get from there back to "civilization" is academic.

Any advice about what I should do with my life if Tricia and I finish? This trip has been a huge thing for me and the thought of it possibly being done is mind-boggling.

[JC w KC redux]

^
I found one picture that matched the swath you described but it didn't extend that far - basically looked like a power line path with no power line (boo-hoo no EMF exposure  ).

I'm sure you'll find something else fantastic to do.
As an aside - Kat keeps tabs on a girl we used to know from Pinnacles (Savannah) and she has been hiking every long trail known to mankind since she did the PCT. I'm not sure she'll ever be able to return to civilization. Every time she tries - the next thing you know she is back out doing another trail. From what little I have seen - Karinn Pearson has been doing the same thing for several years now...

 

[JC w KC redux]

There's still hope Brad.

Kat said Savannah completed the Triple Crown of through-hiking about a week ago - PCT, AT, CDT.

[Brad Young]

There's still hope Brad.

Kat said Savannah completed the Triple Crown of through-hiking about a week ago - PCT, AT, CDT.

Marco gave me a book about a guy who did the triple crown in one calendar year. He was the fifth to have done that. One year.

I wonder what I would have ended up doing regarding the long trails if I had not become a climbing fanatic (no regrets at all though, I love climbing still and am perfectly happy with the PCT the way we've been doing it).

If you're still in touch with her please give her congratulations from an old geezer who's almost done with the Pacific Crest Trail. And then ask her if she's heard of this one:

https://americanperimetertrail.org/interactive-map/