[pct-l] International hiker, a few questions

[Tobias Spiegelhalter]

Hey guys,

I'm planning on thru hiking the PCT this year and just discovered this 
wonderful mailing list.
I'm from Germany and it will be my first trip to the US. It will be my 
first attempt at such a long hike (meaning more than a weekend hike, 
haha) and I know I'll probably make every rookie mistake possible, but 
I'm looking forward to it very much :)

Naturally I have a few questions:

1. Is there a way to search the archives of this list (non-manual)? I 
don't think I'll be the first to ask the following things, so...

2.1 Canada Permit
Is it possible to get this while on trail? I don't have the necessary 
documents yet, I'm especially waiting for my US Visa (everything depends 
on that, it's so annoying :-/ ) and am afraid that if I apply in the 
middle of march it won't arrive here before I leave mid april...

2.2 When I hopefully reach Manning Park, what would be the easiest way 
to get home? Could I travel to Vancouver Airport with the Canada Permit 
or is that not allowed?

3. Gear:
I have to buy almost all gear needed. I'm currently considering to get 
some of it in the US, as I heard/read that it's supposed to be quite a 
bit cheaper there.
I was thinking to spend 1-3 Days in San Diego to assemble everything 
needed. Is it possible to get this done only using local stores? How 
well are they stocked? (I guess internet shopping isn't viable for me... 
I'm not sure I'll have a set adress and don't want to spend a lot of 
time waiting for shipment...)

As an example: I want to use the Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo. It costs 
285$ in a german online shop (don't think you'd even get it in a local 
store as it's not common here), it's priced 180$ at their hompage... 
thats a 100$ discount, awesome! But how easily would I get this tent in 
a store?... Same for sleeping bag, down jacket and so on (the expensive 
stuff...)
I guess some general outdoor clothing won't be a problem to get...


4. Budget
Yes, it's different for everyone, but almost everywhere I looked they 
talk about 1-2-3$/Mile, but what do these numbers entail? Is cost for 
gear covered?
My current calculation: ~2700-3000$ for gear (This is calculated with 
german prices, hopefully gets a bit lower if I buy in the US...),  
~2000$ for flights and transportation
Here's the number I'm really not sure about: on-trail-costs... Is 2000$ 
feasible?
I'll be using some kind of Bounce Box and will resupply on the fly. I 
don't want to spend too much time packing Resupply Boxes and have noone 
to send them anyway.
I hope to keep off-trail costs as cheap as possible, avoiding 
restaurants and keeping hotel nights to a minimum...


That's all for now :)
Thanks for your time
Tobi