[pct-l] Post to PCT-L : "Starting earlier than permit date"

[Brittney Dane]

Subject: "Starting  earlier than permit date"

"Before I start, I want reassure everyone that I don't plan on just
disregarding my permit and starting whenever I want. I am trying to figure
out an ethical workaround to this situation and I would absolutely love and
appreciate some brainstorming. I wasn't able to plan my thruhike months in
advance because I'm in one of those situations where within the last 2
months so much has changed in my life that I could have never prepared for
this opportunity beforehand. So by the time I realized I could actually
hike the PCT this year, permits had already been open for weeks and all of
April/earl May were gone.

The start date I got is May 14th. I REALLY want to start at the beginning
of May. I want to make it Canada, I want to have flexibility to take zeros
when I need to, and I'm afraid that starting mid May will make me feel
rushed. Does anyone, ANYONE, have some good ideas on how I can go about
changing my start date without blowing off the permit system? So far I
posted on the facebook group requesting a date switch with someone and I
called the PCTA (they basically just said keep an eye on the permit
calendar in case someone drops out).

Does anyone have any other ideas/suggestions/enchantments that could get me
on the trail earlier than Mid-May!?"