Approved — and Then Reality Hits

Your PCT permit is approved.
It’s getting real.

The email lands with enthusiasm and congratulations, but the timing makes it harder to celebrate. Almost immediately, the news shifts the mood.

A powerful snowstorm — described by a meteorologist as “as bad as it gets” — tears through the Sierra Nevada. Long stretches of Interstate 80 are shut down, ski resorts close, thousands of homes lose power. At higher elevations, more than three metres of snow are expected, creating what the National Weather Service calls a life-threatening situation around Lake Tahoe.

“It’s a snowstorm,” says a long-time local in Truckee. “It’s pretty frightening.”

The permit may be approved, but the reality of an early March start sinks in. The excitement gives way to doubt. Conditions like these aren’t something to push through or ignore.

I decide to let go of March 8. Instead, I reapply — this time starting from the Canadian border. Southbound. SOBO.

Sometimes the trail answers before you even take the first step.