Pre-PCT Preparations
The Pacific Crest Trail is of course an epic thru-hiking journey, however before it can be undertaken there is a logistical journey required to even make it to the starting point. When embarking on this we found relatively minimal information online discussing the process which is why we’re putting together this page of (hopefully) useful information. It’ll cover our US visa acquisition, PCT permit application and finally how we travelled to the northern PCT terminus to begin our southbound (SOBO) hike in 2023. Please do reach out to us via our email or instagram links at the top of this page if you have any further questions!
US Visa
The first step in our PCT journey was applying for a ‘B2 Medical / Tourism’ US Visa, as you would expect this is quite a lengthy process. The B2 visa allows you to stay in the USA for up to 6 months. Without this visa the maximum time you would have under an ESTA is 3 months, which for a vast majority of people is not long enough to complete the PCT! We would recommend to start the visa process as early as possible because for us it took about 6 months in total to acquire the visa.
The visa application initial submission is done online using a very detailed and lengthy form. Be prepared to enter pretty much your life history from schools attended through to your plans whilst in the USA and even confirm such things as whether you’ve ever been involved with human trafficking! The visa costs US$185 (at this time) and from what I recall there is at least one additional fee for returning your passport to you in the post, as well as what it will cost you to travel for the in-person interview.
The main stumbling block for some people is that you need to enter contact information of a person who lives in the USA who would be able to be contacted regarding your application (I’m not sure exactly what about!). Per their website, the PCTA is not able to help with this so it really comes down to having to know someone, even distantly, who lives in America and hoping that they will agree to you supplying their information.
We submitted our online application in Oct 2022 and the earliest interview slot was in Mar 2023. You must go for an in-person interview at the US Embassy either in London or Belfast. The interview process was relatively straight-forward for us, however it does take a while - we were at the embassy for about 2 hours in total. We were given a specific time slot but once through security you end up in a huge room with around 100 people and are assigned a number. When your number appears on the screen you go over to a window for part one of the interview process. Once that is done you again have to wait for your number before going to a different window for part two of the interview process. Since the PCT is a well-known trail it seems to really help in terms of speeding up the interview process and we certainly weren’t interrogated as much as I expected.
After part two the official who interviewed us took our passports and confirmed that we would receive them back in the post shortly. When we received the passports back they contained a US Visa stuck onto one of the inside pages and that was the process finally done. Visa secured!
PCT Long-distance Permit application
Getting the PCT permit was a complete breeze compared to the US Visa. We did the PCT southbound so can only comment on the SOBO permit process. These permits are released early in January of the year you are intending to do the hike (12 Jan 2023 for us). You can create an account at any time via the PCTA website, this is quick and easy to do. We then linked our accounts which ensures that both people get a permit for the same start date date, super useful if you’re hiking as a couple for example.
On the day before the permits are released you get randomly assigned a time slot to login on the PCTA website and apply for the permit. Of course if your time slot is earlier then you’re more likely to be able to secure a ‘good’ permit date. Our time slot wasn’t super early but there were plenty of good date options left and we managed to secure 01Jul2023. As an aside I just want to mention that we didn’t really know what date to pick but the reason we went for 01Jul is because it’s Gav’s birthday so we thought it would be quite fun to start then. From historical snow data, early July seems like the best time most years but it really is a bit of guesswork. Definitely also worth checking the snow fall they’ve had during that winter so far in Washington and therefore when it’s likely to have melted sufficiently for the trail to be hike-able. The general rule is that you should start the trail SOBO 2 weeks after the snow has totally melted at Hart’s Pass.
After selecting our preferred start date it took about 2 weeks before we received email confirmation to say that we’d been approved and would be issued with the permit. Three weeks before your start date the permit can be downloaded from the PCTA website. You need to carry a paper copy on the trail and it will be checked by most of the rangers you interact with - we saw about 3 rangers on trail during our trip who wanted to see our permits.
Getting to the northern PCT terminus
As with most trail logistics, the easiest way to arrange getting to the PCT northern terminus is via Facebook. We aren’t regular Facebook users but would highly recommend using this channel as by far the best way to find trail angels. We posted on the generic PCT Trail Angel group with a simple comment saying who we were and that we were looking forward to starting the trail. Even though we hadn’t specifically asked about this, a trail angel responded to us very quickly offering to help us get from Seattle to Lion’s Den. He lives in Sedro-Woolley which is accessible via bus from Seattle train station. He picked us up from the bus station, took us to the grocery store and then back to his house where we stayed for a couple of nights and sorted out our resupply boxes.
We had also posted quite a lot of bulk supples to the trail angel’s house in the preceding month. It took hours to package them up into ziplocks and then into resupply boxes which we posted on throughout Washington and Oregon but was worth it in the long-run and super useful to just pick up our boxes in the various towns and villages.
It took about 2.5hrs to drive from Sedro-Woolley to Lion’s Den which the trail angel kindly did for us and the two other SOBO hikers who were heading across the same day. Lion and Raven at Lion’s Den are such lovely people too. There were about 30 hikers there in total, either about to start the PCT or some who had just completed the Hart’s Pass to Rainy Pass section. A list is on the wall where you sign up to get a lift to Hart’s Pass the next morning. Turns out the vehicle rules in Washington are a bit more relaxed than in the UK so lots of us squashed into the car and all our bags were strapped onto the roof! The road was narrow and windy with a steep drop off to one side so we were very relieved once we reached the Hart’s Pass Trailhead and began our PCT journey.
Lion’s Den Sidenote!
Lion’s Den is a campsite in a village called Mazama. It’s run by former PCT hiker Lion and a guy with the trail name Raven who gives rides up to Hart’s Pass each morning. They have space for you to camp and a nice indoor area with a kitchen, bathroom and small lounge. They will also do laundry for you and quite often cook meals for everyone! It’s all run on a donation basis and there’s such a nice chilled vibe at the place with activities such as rock painting and guitar playing if you fancy… I was getting pretty nervous about starting the trail so a bit of rock painting was actually quite therapeutic.
Lion’s Den in all its glory. The buildings are hidden behind the giant tipi tent!