Walking on one of the three big trails (AT,PCT,CDT) in the US was in my bucket list for some years. I had a thought doing one in spring last year before marriage but then my business got busy and I gave up. But we found Te Araroa (TA) and hiked through New Zealand. I am fulfilled that we did through hike together.
Isha was the one influenced me the most. We started the same day and she already had PCT Permit and planned it right after TA. She was always talked about PCT with hikers who’ve done it before and so I met them too. The more I meet the ex-PCT-hikers, more I think about PCT.
I’ve got PCT Permit on the second entry day and one more thing to apply was the US B2 VISA in Japan. I started to research reading PCT hikers’ blog and found out this is not as simple as getting 6 months visa in New Zealand or other countries I’ve been before. But no PCT hiker was rejected on their blogs that ease my mind.
Papers for B2VISA
・PCT Long-distance Permit
・DS-160 (Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application)
・Appointment Confirmation
・Certification of the Balance of Deposit
・Letter
・PCT Overview Map
・Planning Note
Came back to Tokyo on April 12th, applied DS-160 the same night, scheduled the interview on 18th. gather all the papers I need in a week and then the interview was just a couple of minutes long, though waited for over one hour at US embassy. I got back my passport with US Visa Stamp on 21th. All happened in 10 days and now I can concentrate making new gears for PCT!
Pacific Crest Trail Association
https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/permits/pct-long-distance-permit/
US VISA
http://www.ustraveldocs.com/jp_jp/jp-niv-ds160info.asp
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