Canada Border Services Agency bans hikers from entering country via Pacific Crest Trail
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The Canada Border Services Agency says it will no longer allow hikers to enter the country via the popular Pacific Crest Trail that crosses the international border between Washington state and British Columbia.
A statement from the CBSA released Monday says the agency is ending its entry permit program for hikers and riders who want to complete the final 13 kilometers of the 4,265-kilometer trail that stretches from Mexico to Canada.
"This change will make it easier to monitor compliance of trail users, enhance border security, and align with U.S. Customs and Border Protection's ban on travelers entering the U.S. from Canada via the trail," the CBSA said in its statement. The border agency says American hikers who want to hike the final stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail in Canada must first go to a designated port of entry to obtain permission to enter the country.
The closest ports of entry are in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and Osoyoos, British Columbia, both located about 100 kilometers from the trailhead in E.C. Manning Provincial Park.
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"This is disappointing news," Jack Haskell, director of trail information for the Pacific Crest Trail Association, wrote on the group's website.
"That said, we can understand their views and that this policy is consistent with U.S. policy, which does not allow entry into the United States via the PCT."
A Pacific Crest Trail sign points to Mexico and Canada on a barbed wire fence in the desert mountains of the United States. (Shutterstock) (Shutterstock)
The Pacific Crest Trail was first proposed as a high-altitude recreational hiking trail in the 1930s, but was not officially recognized until 1968, when U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Trail Systems Act, which designated the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail as America's first National Scenic Byway, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The trail gained popularity after the release of Cheryl Strayed's 2012 memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which documented the author's solo journey along the trail, and was later adapted into a film starring Reese Witherspoon.
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