Lions and Tigers and Gdt allow it, my God!

1-23-25

Level Anxiety 1

Ok, I have decided to walk the GDT and was ready to jump to the mode of planning. I knew that the permissions process would be involved in relation to a walk like the PCT. With the guide in my hand and the open GDTA website, I began to feel overwhelmed with sample itineraries, limited refueling options, camp spreadsheets, alternatives and transport logistics. I am not one to avoid the tedious (I like to sew my own isolated hiking jackets) but there were a lot of information and more questions than answers.

Unlike any long path in the US, an itinerary must be created that identifies each camp location for each night. The guide has three sample itineraries to help you identify a slow, average and fast walk. For me, fasting was too fast, and the average was too slow, so I created my own itinerary about Farout, camp requirements and resupply information for hours and hours. When my itinerary spreadsheet was completed, it was perhaps more overwhelmed, if possible.

Level 2 Anxiety

With a spreadsheet in my hand and several days of planning, I was ready to immerse me again. I checked the GDTA YouTube web seminar on planning and permit. The second time, I began to realize that not all camps required permission. However, there must be a solid plan to reach sites on specific days that do not require permission. Uhg! So he shake hands and said goodbye to my normal level of hiking flexibility.

Level 3 Anxiety

In the 40 -day itinerary, I realized that there are only about 12 campings that It requires advanced reserve. The bad news is that they extend in five national parks and a provincial park, all with slightly different requirements and dates when reserves are opened. Most reserves for parks open at the end of January, some are on different days and others have a 90 -day reservation date.

In addition to the necessary reserves in the parks, there are also others. There is a random camp permit that is needed for some sections of the walk and you need one for each park. In my case, that’s Banff and Jasper. Oh, and you have to call the park offices for these versus online. Then there is a public land camp permit for Alberta. He also needs this and is not surprising, he is on a different website. The last thing, I think it is the pass of Parks Canada Discover that needs to be in any of the parks. You would need this even if you were in a car.

Level 4 Anxiety (Who knew there were 4 levels?)

At this point, my level of anxiety is manageable but, certainly, not zero. The most difficult permits to obtain are in Banff. This is because you not only compete with the few hundred hikers in the GDT, but also all people who make short trips in Banff in the July and August time window.

The permission day this year for Banff, Kootenay and Yoho is 1-27-25, only a few days from this writing. The strategy is to have several registered devices and use the device with the lowest tail number. First, reserve the most difficult place to get on Banff, which is Ball Pass. Unfortunately, most sites only have five pads and without ball pass there will be almost 30 miles with more than 6000 ‘of pronounced profits. Because the itinerary is quite rigid, the date on which I land in Ball Pass establishes my start date. If I can’t get Ball Pass, I can hook 10 miles to a front country site that would need to reserve in advance. In addition, there is a website called Schnerp that alerts it to cancellations.

It is possible that you have painted a gloomy image of the permission and planning process. That’s why I apologize. I just tried to honestly describe my intellectual and emotional experience while reviewing it. The process is certainly feasible and I think that as others they do, the walk will be worth it. It would have been useful, and maybe my anxiety lowered, if someone had told me that there were actually only a dozen sites that needed reservations in advance. Future GDT hikers do not discourage.

The permission days are approaching. Unhook me luck!

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