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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Final Countdown

This summer I am heading off to hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). I'll be starting April 15, 60 days from today. I've been planning and preparing for the trip for the past couple of years and now it's time to get the last details in place. The countdown has begun.



After I graduated college I hiked the Appalachian Trail and loved it. I've always wanted to take on the CDT, and with my job coming to an end, it seemed like a perfect time to take off a couple months. The CDT is a little different then other trails. It isn't completely defined, and there are a couple of alternates that are more popular then the official route. So I took a lot of liberties when planning where I wanted to go. Below is a map.


View CDT Route in a larger map


A few large variations I made include hiking: the length of the Sangre de Christo range in New Mexico; the Great Divide Trail to Jasper, Alberta; and part of the Idaho Centennial Trail. The plan is to start at the southern end at the border of Mexico and head north (green). When I get to Rocky Mountain NP, I'll bounce up to Helena and continue hiking north (yellow). In Jasper, I'll flip around to Spokane and hike south through Idaho (purple). I finish up there in Mountain Home where I'll get a bus to West Yellowstone (blue) and finish on top of a mountain in Rocky Mountain NP. All said it's about 3300 miles.

At least that's the plan. My schedule currently has me finishing by the beginning of October. During the trip I am going to be carrying a SPOT gps that will send out my location daily and update the map on the right side of the blog as well as facebook. I hope to occasionally blog from the trail. Should be a fun summer!

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