ThruSmith

PCT planning guides

The parts of planning a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike that are easy to get wrong, written out properly. Ordered the way you'll meet them, from the permit application to the walk back from the northern monument.

• PCT permit day: the queue, the odds, and what to do if you miss Your place in line is assigned at random, so arriving early does nothing. How the release actually works, what the odds look like, the end-date question nobody prepares for, and what carrying the permit involves once you have one.

• How many miles a day should you hike when you start the PCT? Your target pace is not your first-week pace. What trail legs cost in days, why that number is the same whatever pace you walk, and which dates in your plan are wrong if you ignore it.
• Zero days and neros: how many rest days should you budget? Hikers average 15 to 20 zero days — but the quieter choice between a nero and a quick stop at each resupply moves your finish date further than the whole zero budget does.
• How many days of food do you need between PCT resupply stops? Not a property of the trail — a property of your pace. The arithmetic, the longest carries, why the Sierra is slower than you think, and the bear canister that caps the lot.
• How to mail a resupply box so it doesn't come back Post office or private holder, the two address formats, why some places charge a fee, Priority against Ground Advantage, buckets, stove fuel, and the 15-day trap that returns your food before you reach it.

• Getting to Campo: San Diego airport to the southern terminus One weekday bus, a seasonal hiker shuttle, and the transit connections most people don't know exist. Plus where to stay the night before and what's actually in Campo.

• Mt. Whitney on a PCT permit: what you can do, and what it costs your plan Your long-distance permit covers the summit as a day hike from the trail. It does not cover Guitar Lake or walking out to Whitney Portal. The rules, the junctions, and what the detour does to your food carry.
• Harts Pass: how northbound hikers finish the PCT and get out Canada closed the trail crossing in 2025. The monument is still the finish, but it is no longer the end of the walking — the only way out is 30.5 miles back south, and most plans don't account for it.

• Your son or daughter is hiking the PCT: a guide for parents What the real risks are, why days of silence are normal, what a satellite messenger does and doesn't tell you, and the three things a parent can actually do. Written to be forwarded.