That wording sounds weird, but that's basically what it is.

I've seen several people today ask about how this works, so here's a brief description.

How it works: Some of the people who get permits during Round 1 or 2 will later find that circumstances prevent them from hiking in 2025, and some of them will cancel their permits by clicking the button in the portal. PCTA staff then put these start dates back on the calendar in batches a few times per week, or sometimes daily. There doesn't seem to be an observable pattern about what time of day the calendar is updated, and I haven't seen any official statements from PCTA about this.

When it starts: Start dates normally start going back on the calendar in appreciable quantities beginning sometime around February, although in the past year or two I recall seeing a few comments by people who say they were able to get a cancellation as early as December or November.

What to do: It's fairly straightforward and not at all complicated.

• Step 1: Participate in Round 2 instead. You don't have to, but it involves less effort and is worth a shot. Round 2 is Jan. 8. Same process as today, and if you already registered you don't need to register again.

• Step 2: Check the portal calendar often. As in at-least-once-a-day-often. It varies by year, but sometimes cancellations are in high demand and get reserved within minutes of going on the calendar. Other years, there are days that don't fill up all season. It may be a good idea to be logged in before checking the calendar, so if you find the perfect start date you don't have to risk losing it while logging in. Yes, sometimes they go that quickly.

• Step 3: When you see a start date you want, fill out the application on permit.pcta.org.

Being able to get someone else's cancelled permit is not guaranteed, and it can require a lot of patience and persistence, but many people -- there are no official stats, but maybe between a hundred and a few hundred? -- get permits this way every year now. Some days have one or two days go back on the calendar, or even none, but other days five or ten dates appear.

Hi 2025 Hopefuls. The permit day (tongue-in-cheek) 'Bitching and Complaining' thread is kind of a tradition around here (and a way to prevent the front page from getting filled with 20 of the same posts). Feel free to vent your frustrations.

It's also an opportunity to provide a reminder that there are still plenty of chances to get a 2025 long distance permit. If you were registered for today, you're automatically registered for Round 2 on Jan. 8 and should receive an application time email the afternoon before.

There are also cancellations that can be reserved after Round 2.

Finally, in the unlikely even that all of that doesn't work, there's the local permits option.

Keep hope alive! Not getting a permit in Round 1 has little bearing on whether or not you'll be able to get an LD permit, it just makes it a bit less convenient.

I'm feeling devastated. It took a year of work to get leave from my teaching job and they've already hired a replacement teacher. I've been wanting to do this hike since 2003 when I gave a ride to a hiker named Radar in the Eastern Sierras. I joined the PCTA and did some trail angel work with the plans of doing the trail once my youngest was in college. It was such a big ordeal to get everything arranged, not sure what to do next.

Cheers,

MommaKitty

Was hoping to do from Kennedy meadows south to Donner pass with my son. Anyone else not get one today well you'd be in good company if you want to talk about it.

Watching those last ones get snapped up 5 mins before my appointment time was painful! Didn't manage to get a permit in this round, what do I do now? Is it just wait for the second round and cross my fingers it goes better for me then

Not sure what to do. I don't want to be in the desert when it's that hot out. I don't want to start too early either. I don't know what to do.

Hey everyone, like many of you I applied for my permit today. I was hoping for an early April start date, so I could start off slow. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to swing that with my application time. My start date is May 3rd which seems doable to me with some extra training. I've never trained for a hike before though. What sort of things do you think would be effective? Is there a benchmark activity I can do to get an idea how quickly I'll be able to ramp up my pace when I start?

Here's a few details about me for context:

• It's not practical for me to train by largely hiking as I don't have an easily accessible trail. I'll have to do my training mostly in the gym.
• I'm in relatively good shape, but not amazing. The most difficult trip I've done recently was 34 miles on the Timberline trail where I did three days: 6 miles, 18 miles, 12 miles with a decent amount of elevation gain. I managed that trip pretty well, but the second day was a lot. I think I could do 12-15 miles per day to start at my current fitness level.

• https://arcg.is/D5Gmy

The PCTA provides an amazing map of the trail, it's far and away the best one there is. It's hosted by ArcGIS, a big name in online mapping, and there's a real wealth of information.

If you zoom in, nobo mile markers will appear along the trail (sobo markers are still broken). You can get more information about a particular location by clicking/tapping on the map with one or more layers enabled.

Layers can be turned on/off by clicking/tapping the icon that looks like three stacked squares. Examples of some of the most useful layers:

• Recreation -> Trail Towns and Resupply Locations
• Recreation -> Permit Areas (for section hikes and local permits)
• Natural Resources -> PCT Corridor Elevation Ranges
• Fire -> [Current Year] Fire Perimeters
• Fire -> 'Air Quality Zones' and 'Near Surface Smoke' (helpful in wildfire season)
• Various layers under 'Snow' to get recent satellite imagery, although these layers break rather often.

The LD permit will cover you for hiking and camping along the PCT corridor between Mexico and Canada (with camping exclusions in a few spots), but there are some others that are worth getting.

From https://permit.pcta.org/docs/overview/#other-permits-you-may-need :

Other permits you may need

• The California Fire Permit – it doesn’t give you permission to have a campfire. You’ll still only be able to have campfires if and when they’re allowed. But the permit is required in most of California to cook on a camp stove. Oregon and Washington don’t require fire permits.

• In Oregon and Washington, please also fill out permits when you pass by a permit box. This helps us understand how many people are using an area, which in turn, helps us better protect this fragile trail.

• If you’re entering Canada via the PCT, you’ll need a Canada PCT Entry Permit.

You’re likely to visit places that require extra permits and fees. Campgrounds, park entrances, and other special use fees are not covered by this permit. Please pay the collecting agency directly.

#2 is more important than it may seem, because visitor use statistics are an integral component of local land management agencies' federal funding applications each year, and federal funding makes up a significant proportion of most of their budgets. It typically takes maybe a few dozen seconds to fill out one of the cards at a trailside kiosk and it's a worthwhile way to help preserve and protect the trail.

ETA: Thank you to u/ORCHWA01DS0 who has pointed out in this comment:

Be aware that if you file your fire permit now like I just did, you'll have to do it again next year. Apparently, and I didn't even know this going in, it "EXPIRES DECEMBER 31 OF THE YEAR IN WHICH IT WAS ISSUED" (upper-case theirs). I had been under the impression it was valid for one year from the date it was issued.

Congrats and good luck Class of 2025 Hopefuls!

Check which start dates are available using the PCTA availability page.

https://portal.permit.pcta.org/availability/

This will go live when the permit release starts.

I got my time slot for today. So did my husband. I tried linking our accounts so we could get the same itinerary, but just found out we can't do that the day of our permit application. What do we do? Do we both apply and hope for the same itinerary? Is there a way to change it later? We're only planning on doing the Oregon portion of the hike but I was told to extend our hike to make it over 500 miles and get the whole PCT permit.

Not sure what the right direction from here is...

Sorry if this has already been asked, I searched through and didn’t find much. Laptop is broken so I just have my phone to do my application once my time comes in a couple hours. Anybody have experience with this?

Thanks

EDIT: didn't get the start date I thought I would, so I'm going to adjust the specific logistics of this plans. Thanks everyone for your input!

I have two date constraints for my hike:

1.) must start on or after May 1

2.) must attend a June 7th wedding

Hiking NOBO. I think I can make it to Tehachapi (~566 miles) between May 1 and June 3rd. Then I'd have to find a way to find a way to Bakersfield's airport (BFL) which is ~40 miles.

While not ideal, but does that seem reasonable? I would appreciate your advice. Thanks!

I’m not picky at all with my start date I got 2:12 what are my chances of having nothing left for me?

Got my timeslot for tomorrow, 12:30PM.

1. Early April start, get off trail 4-7 days. I don't have an issue detouring around San Jacinta area if needed.

2. May 7 start

Curious what people think the pros and cons are of these options.

Snow? Heat? Wildfires? Crowds? Fitness? Obligations (work/school/etc)? Something else?

There's probably a lot of people who aren't sure how to pick their date, and almost everyone will have multiple dates to choose from, so a conversation to share ideas should be helpful.

tl;dr: For reasons outside the control of permit.pcta.org, it could take minutes to get your email verification code, and the earlier you log in (even by minutes) the more start dates will be available.

The permit portal uses a passwordless verification code system, where you enter your account's email on the site and receive a login code by email shortly afterwards.

The emails normally arrive pretty quickly, but 1) the site will be under load tomorrow which could potentially impact sending speeds, and 2) many factors impact delivery speed of emails, most of which are not under the control of the sending site.

If you wait until your application time to log in, it could take minutes to receive your email, and several dates are taken every minute through permit day. Consider logging in ahead of time in order to maximize your chances of getting the best start date for your schedule.

What time slot did you get for the first round tomorrow?

With my 2:37 time slot I have already given up any hope of securing a fitting permit first round, so while I feel sorry for myself, a little poll on your time slots would be entertaining I guess.

View Poll

Question for people who know about linked permits. I got a terrible appointment time (2:51:32) so obviously I'm going to try again in January, but let's say still no dice there. I know you can refresh and try to nab a permit that somebody has given up. That automatically unlinks your accounts right? How do you navigate getting a permit with a partner? Do you just individually refresh as the weeks go by until you have a date that’s on the same day/same week at least?

Does anyone know if someone is working on a PCT thru-hiker yearbook for the class of 2024? We should have one!

So I got a late time slot :( but not to worry.

Last year I seem to remember someone posting some sort of retrospective chart or spreadsheet plotting the available permit numbers each day vs time throughout the permit allocation day the got snapped up.

Does anyone remember this / have a link. I have been unsuccessful in conjuring up the right search terms to find it!

Would be useful to see what dates might have a chance of being open for my late slot tomorrow.