Canada - do I really want to go?

[10-K]

What's up with hiking to Manning Park and into Canada?

If I understand correctly you hike by the northern terminus on the way there.

Is this a tradition thing or is there a good reason for keeping on past the northern terminus?

[Fairway]

Manning Park is the closest spot to a road, restaurant, and bus stop. It beats backtracking 30 or 60 miles after you reach the border.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

That depends....did you get your draft notice?

[Mags]

Just to add some quick info to the bus stop note above, it will take you to Vancouver. From there, very easy to get to Seattle or even fly from Vancouver to elsewhere.

[10-K]

Just to add some quick info to the bus stop note above, it will take you to Vancouver. From there, very easy to get to Seattle or even fly from Vancouver to elsewhere.

Assuming I get that far I'll probably be ready for a plane ride back home...

[Slo-go'en]

Don't forget your passport or they won't let you back home (which might not be a bad thing..)

[Malto]

It is 30 miles back to harts pass. We ended up going back to harts then hitching in Seattle. It was actually quite easy. I was originally planning to hike part of the NWT after hitting Canada and hiking toward Bellingham but with the snow in '11 I had enough fun just reaching the border.

[10-K]

So 18 miles to Manning Park or 30 miles back to Hart's Pass. 30 miles isn't so bad.

I mailed in for my Canada permit today. I'm going to plan on going and be prepared but will decide when, and if, I get there. One step at a time and all that....

[Dogwood]

The PCT northern terminus monument is basically in the middle of the woods on the International Border. I remember hiking from the monument(couple of wooden poles nailed together, just like the ones at Campo) to the Manning Park TH so high on adrenaline that it took me and most of the rest of the PCTers I was finishing with with about 4 hrs. Don't rember the distance. Either retrace back to Hart's Pass(nice hike but just did it) so decided to head into Canada and fly out of Vancouver Canada or Seattle. It was 2008 before a U.S. citizen needed a passport. I wanted to visit Vancouver. I was finishing with about 20 other PCT thru-hikers, one of whom , trail name SteamRoller, was from Manning Park. Big scene with a local newspaper and about 150 Canadian and U.S. relatives of the PCT thru-hikers finishing that day at the TH in Mannning Park. We all rented a house right in Manning Park at the TH splitting the costs. Partied like rock stars for two days further bonding with all those great hikers some of whom I consider my best friends. Then took a bus from MP into Vancouver for two days, stopping for a few hrs at a bus transfer in Hope BC to check out where Rambo blew up the town(Sheriff's Office in the First Blood movie is right near the bus station). Met up in Vancouver with a few other PCTers who had chosen to head into Vancouver and had split a room near the Amsterdam Cafe(). Checked out Vancouver for two days. It was still warm. Took a bus fromm vancouver to SeaTac and fle back home. Loved my time in Manning Park and Vancouver including all the GREAT Canadians I met in British Columbia!. It really postively contributed to my overall PCT thru-hike and wouldn't have changed a thing in hindsight. GREAT times.

[Dogwood]

By the time most PCT thru-hikers get to the northern terminus few think about the options solely in terms of 18 or 30 miles. The trail mileage is largely insignificant in the big scheme of what's you've just accomplished. My advice is to base your decision on what you will do at the end of your PCT thru-hike based on what's logistically, well, more logica,l NOT just from a trail mileage perspective.

[Miner]

So 18 miles to Manning Park or 30 miles back to Hart's Pass. 30 miles isn't so bad....

I think you typo'd. Its only about 8 miles to Manning Park Lodge (hotel, restaurant, and bus stop), not 18. It took me about 3.5hours to hike in after it started snowing on me at the border monument.

The bus picked up about 11am. There was a sign on the main entrance door with the relevant bus information. You can pay after you get on at the next bus stop which takes credit cards. The bus drops you off at the Amtrak Station in Vancouver, BC near two cheap hostels in the early afternoon near China Town.

[Dogwood]

I was thinking it was like 9 miles but don't 100% remember. Once in MP on the PCT, just like when atop Mt K on the AT, and in Columbus NM on the CDT, I really didn't want to stop. I wanted to turn around all those times and yo yo. It was really emotional because I had debilitating side lining shin splints at Stevens Pass and thought I wasn't going to finish the PCT so close to the end. The Dinsmores really helped me out letting me stay at there place for a wk off my feet. They don't live so close to the Pass anymore. Still worth a stop at there new place though.

[10-K]

I mailed off the Canada permit form yesterday and will have my passport sent to me when I get close. Looks like I'll keep going then since that's the closest/easiest/funnest way to get home.

I just couldn't tell if it was a tradition thing - like the approach trail on the AT (which I've never hiked..).

[burger]

My year, most everybody seemed to fly home from Seattle. But I compared prices, and it turned out that it was cheaper to go home from Vancouver (plus it saved the extra bus or train ride down to Seattle from Vancouver). From the bus station in Vancouver, you can take the subway straight to the airport--it's super easy.

[samgriffin4]

A lot of people I was hiking with/around turned around at the border for various reasons:

Had criminal records, didn't get their passports in time, didn't get their Canada permit, had friends who met one of these criteria who they were committed to hiking with, etc.

Not to give bad advice, but you will probably only need your Canada papers if you are walking back into the US. I didn't show them to anyone (had someone pick us up at Manning Park and drove to Seattle) in 2011. Still get the permit though, you never know I suppose.

It's about 7-8 miles to Manning Park, which at this point should take you about 3 hours, maybe a little less. Not to mention the strange, surreal aspect of that last leg. I felt like I was floating, though I still had that thru-hiker "business is business let's get this done" indefinite grind going on. Not to mention the weather in WA was well beyond "****ty" from Stehekin to Manning, so I was looking forward to that car ride.

[SCRUB HIKER]

It was less than three hours from the border to Manning for me (you can look at the maps and spot a shortcut through the back of the Lodge buildings that saves you at least 20-30 minutes of walking ... I knew a lot of people who wandered around on the highway for a bit instead). I had a relation come and get me, plus three other hikers, and most friends that I heard from did not have trouble either hitching or taking the bus from Manning Park back to civilization. I just think it's a much cleaner, quicker, more stress-free disengagement (if that's the type of disengagement that you want) from the trail than walking the 30 miles back to Hart's, which is a campground, and trying to hitch from there.

[garlic08]

One hiking option, instead of hiking back to Harts Pass, is to backtrack to the PNT route (Devil's Dome Trail), which leads about 15 miles or so west down to Ross Lake. About 10 miles along the lake shore, if you can't hitch a boat ride, will take you to the North Cascades Hwy and a hitch out to the Puget Sound area between Seattle and Bellingham (Sedro-Wooley). The Devils Dome Trail is absolutely awesome. If weather cooperates, you get views of Desolation Peak, where Jack Kerouac wrote "Desolation Angels." Mt Baker is right there in front or you on the way down.

Don't go east on the PNT. It's a long way to anything that way, through the Pasayten Wilderness.

[garbanz]

Guess I will be doing an about face at the border monument. Just received my rejected application for entry into Canada. I had forgotten about a DWI from ~40 years ago! I wish Id known this before applying for my reentry passport card. Oh well I have Hart's Pass and the PNT option mentioned here--hoping for good weather when I finish.

[Mags]

For a mere $200, the Canadian government will extort, er rehabilitate, you so you can cross the border!
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...ns/rehabil.asp

(Wow..I knew they turned away ppl, did not realize it was also from far back as 40 yrs ago!!)

[Dogwood]

C'mon Garbanz you forgot about that armed bank robbery you did 8 yrs for. Seriously, are you sure they turned you down just for that so long ago? Did they give that specific reason why the denial into Canada?