[pct-l] Late permit application.

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

To hike the trail without the thru-hiker permit, you need a hodge- 
podge of permits. If you want to go with your option 1 you will need  
to get two permits ASAP for the San Jacinto wilderness. This is  
because it is managed by two agencies.

1. San Jacinto wilderness permit from California state parks
Applications for overnight permits will be accepted up to 56 days (8  
weeks) in advance; if you apply by mail, send your request in at  
least 10 days in advance. Sorry, no telephone or FAX requests can be  
accepted.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=636

2. A wilderness permit from the Forest Service
The United States Forest Service has a similar permit system in  
effect for wilderness areas in national forests; these permits are  
issued at U.S.F.S. Headquarters, P.O. Box 518, Idyllwild, California  
92549. The U.S.F.S. phone number is: (951) 659-2117.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5177273.pdf

You can obtain these both by mail. It does take them a while to  
process so do it ASAP.

Your option #2 might be just as fast as option 1 and you'll only have  
to deal with one agency.

I have been stopped for permits every time I've been in the San  
Jacinto wilderness.


On Apr 17, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

>
> So..
> 1) My question is: would there be a way that I could obtain a  
> permit in
> person when I arrive in
> S.California for a large chunk of the PCT, so that I could perhaps  
> apply to
> get a long-distance
> permit sent somewhere along the route? (I have found that it's  
> possible to
> get a 'wilderness permit',
>  but there seems to be very little information on how to go about  
> getting
> one in person, and the
>  areas it covers etc.)
> 2) OR would I be better off applying for the permit from the PCTA and
> waiting until it arrives before
>  booking flights to the US? (If so, does anybody know how long it  
> would
> take for someone living in
> the UK to receive the permit?)