[pct-l] Sonora Pass to Sierra City, PCT required permits

[Deems]

I contacted Desolation Wilderness about the legal issues of hiking from 
Sonora Pass north thru Desolation, and the permits needed. This is the 
answer I received; it's very concise and to the point. The first enroute 
permit received covers the wilderness areas later on, even if quotas are 
involved. However, the rules of each wilderness must be followed, ie 
Desolation bans all campfires. The PCTA permit covers hikes greater than 500 
miles, and the first wilderness permit can cover trips of lesser miles. Here 
is the full letter I received:
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Desolation Manager,
I found your name and number on the Eldorado NF intra-page, and hopefully
you can answer my question. I will be hiking through the Desolation
Wilderness in Aug2007 on the Pacific Crest Trail. I will start at Sonora
Pass and may end my hike at Sierra City. I don't want to leave the trail to
gain a special permit for my hike through Desolation. I will pick up a food
reload at Echo lake.

 My question is this: will the first wilderness permit I get north of
Sonora Pass in the Carson-Iceberg or Emmigrant Wilderness suffice as my
permit to continue hiking through other wilderness areas since I am a long
distance hiker on the PCT? Other PCT hikers have told me this is OK.  I
want to be legal, but want to avoid the hassles. What is the best process I
can use to be legal as I hike through Desolation, due to its special
regulations?

Thank you.

~

The USFS Response::

"PCT thru-hikers only need one permit, and you can get that at the ranger
station nearest to where you are starting your trip or through the PCT
website.  So, you will not need to get a separate Wilderness Permit for
your trip through Desolation Wilderness or any of the other Wilderness
Areas that you might get into after you get that initial permit.

As you recognized, each Wilderness Area has its own regulations, so you
will want to review those before your trip. The regulations for each
Wilderness should be on the appropriate Forests' websites. For Desolation,
the website address to obtain this information is:
www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado/recreation/wilderness. You will already have a
Permit, and the zone quota system will not apply to you. The other
regulation that is somewhat unique to Desolation is No Campfires. At any
rate, please review the regulations on the website.  If you have any
further questions, please contact me through email or at 530-647-5437.
Thanks, J "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  It should not be that painful a process.  Last summer I did the Tahoe 
Yosemite Trail and
  passed thru all those wildernesses (except Granite Chief) and did it with 
a single permit.
  You just need to reach the right person explaining that you are looking 
for a long distance
  permit.  The basic deal is get a permit from the Wilderness you are 
starting in and it is good
  for the rest of the way.  I started in Desolation and with the permit they 
issued me I was
  exempt from all the restrictions typical of Desolation.  I did not even 
have to stick to my start
  day.  They said it was good for a day or two either way.  The only place 
anyone actually
  looked at it was in Desolation and Yosemite and both rangers accepted it 
as valid.

  Jack PCT 01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I may have a good chance to hike this 180 mile section this summer over my
2wk a year PCT adventure vacation. I know that each wilderness along this
section has some very restrictive permit processes required to pass through
each one: Desolation, Emigrant, Granite Chief, Carson-Iceberg, and Mokelumne
Wilderness Areas. I would like to learn from those that have gone before how
I can pass through each one with the least legal procedure problems as
possible, while maintaining my preferred flexibility and legality on the
days I enter and leave. I know from my hikes in 1988 in Desolation, that it
had the most restrictive permit process along this section. I will not leave
the trail enroute to get a new permit; I just want to have a simple 2 week
hike with permits in hand, or attainable along the trail. I'd appreciate
hearing from other hikers, either online or offline, on how to simplify
getting the permits, or how to gracefully hike through this northern Sierra
adventure I'm dreaming about now.
Deems