A big day for the PCT hiking community! For those who do not know how the system works, this year hikers logged on to the PCTA website before 10:30 am PST to receive a randomized spot in the queue. Those who entered after 10:30 were added to the back of the line. Krista set up a conference call for her, Brad, and me to pick a day once we saw what was available. Unfortunately Raechel started a new job so she could not get out of work to apply. Luckily my mom was home and willing to step in and fill in her information.
We set up 4 computers to double our chances of getting a good spot in line. My turn came up first with over 600 hikers in front of me. I chose March 24th (our first choice) which had five people already signed up. 30 minutes later Brad and Raechel (my second computer) were able to sign up next with spots near 1500. The 24th was still open so they were able to choose the same day. Krista's best number was in the 6000s so we used our third computer, which had a spot in line around 1700, to get her.....March 24th!!
I went into the day relaxed because we were choosing a start date earlier than the popular ones. Boy did I realize how lucky we were once I started checking the Facebook page a little later on in the day. People around 6000 were forced to choose dates in early March or mid May. Some partners were split by weeks! Krista would have been going out to buy another tent.
Now on to waiting for our permits to be accepted so we can make travel arrangements and see if we can stay with Scout and Frodo!
