by sef » Sat 22 Nov, 2014 6:14 pm
Get the B2, which is tedious unless you live in Sydney or Perth, but you don't have a whole lot of options. It's also a great introduction to the cheer of US immigration and customs. On that, the length of your stay is still determined by the official at the border -- just because you're entitled to up to six months doesn't mean they'll give it to you. In fact, they'll almost certainly ask "So how long are you planning on staying?" and when you answer "I'd like the full six months sir" you're going to have to explain why.
I'd suggest not simply saying that you're planning to walk from Mexico to Canada, as that makes you sound a bit mental. Say that you're on an "organised hiking tour". Print out the USNST .gov page, wiki, and take the first section of your maps*. They are kind of that terrible.
--
* If you use maps. The track really is so well marked that you can just use a databook and the occasional phone-GPS check -- but you'll want a databook that has incremental mileage between water, towns, etc anyway and the PCTA one is so out of date that you're going to use one extracted from one of the mapsets anyway. I'd strongly suggest using Halfmile's maps (and if you ever do the CDT, the Ley maps). They're community sourced, reasonably error free, cheap and that's what almost everyone else out there is using. Get them printed up at work (free) or by the group printup that someone will organise for your year, probably on the Facebook page. You can then bring them over to Australia by way of a shipping forwarder (eg shipito.com), or even better just get them mailed to trail angels or a motel in San Diego. It was scandalously cheap that way - US$30 vs AUD$320 at Officeworks or punching yourself in the face because you bought Erik the Black.
On that, you should buy Yogi's guide. The town guide you carry with you on the trail, not the planning guide or the laminated cards or that orange spoon that breaks as soon as you wave it near peanut butter. It has its limits, but you're going to need something like it.
Um... get your Canada permit ahead of time, use a pepsi can stove, go as light as you can, don't listen to The Fear that swarms around telling you that the desert is too dry, the Sierras have too much snow, it's going to be a bad fire season in NorCal, etc etc. Get shoes that fit. Almost every piece of outdoor gear is MUCH cheaper in the US and their postal and returns system is pretty generous, so don't worry too much about getting things right. Don't go obsessive crazy over gear, just get it light.
Sorry that all of that is fragmented - if you have any more specific questions or topics, happy to help where I can.