[pct-l] PCT Thru Hike

[Ruth Ben - Rachel]

Hey,
I am planning to thru-hike the PCT a while from now(April 2010) and the
reason I am coming here for help so early on is because I am arriving from
Israel and as such have learnt of several issues I must deal with.
Other than the whole visa issue which I have already dealt with, the staying
permit comes into play. From what I have understood, the maximum amount of
time I could be given by an immigration official is 6 months(and that's a
long shot as well) and because the minimal amount of time to thru hike the
PCT is 6 months I don't want to be catching up with the expiration date on
my staying permit. Not to mention any problems I might encounter on my hike,
be it weather or (hopefully not) injuries and the likes.
I know I will be needing to apply for an extension, but this will be
cumbersome and because of the nature of my trip, will be quite impossible. I
have read that I will need to apply and send various documents to show that
I will be needing the extension to continue my hike and not in some way try
to illegally stay in the states(which is clearly not my purpose). Because I
am relatively young(22) I don't have many options for documents to send,
since I don't own a home or have a steady job that will be waiting for me
after I finish the hike. Furthermore, since I will be hiking I won't be
having a specific address for them to send back their reply, not to mention
I can't just wait around for their reply and halt my hike.
Clearly, I am not the first international hiker to visit the PCT and I
certainly won't be the last, and I wanted to know if there are any other
foreign hikers out there who have already hiked the PCT or are planning to
and if they could tell me how they solved this issue.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Tomer.