There have been several comments and posts this morning and afternoon from people who don't understand why the permit application page says applications are not available.
What is available as of 10:30 am Pacific today is registration, which is the process of creating the account that is later used to apply for a permit on permit release day one, two, or afterwards.
The long distance permit application system involves multiple steps: register, apply, receive confirmation email, download the permit. If you want to understand, take ten minutes to do the reading, or watch the PCTA video (~20 minutes at 1x), or read one of the summaries that have been posted to the subreddit in the past few weeks. No one can do it for you.
Application process timeline for 2027 LD permits, which was announced by PCTA in July:
- October 15 at 10:30 AM Pacific Time through October 22 at 3 PM Pacific Time: 1st registration period
- November 4: 1st Permit Release Day ("PRD1"). This is the day when you use your registered account to complete and submit an application. Normally only permits for starts at Campo (the southern terminus) are available on PRD1.
- November 5 at 10:30 AM through December 11 at 3 PM Pacific Time: 2nd registration period
- January 13: 2nd Permit Release Day. Same process as Permit Release Day 1. Includes Campo starts and all other start locations, including sobos.
- January 14 at 10:30 AM: registration and application reopen