Scroll down to find a links list of all my CDT posts…
The CDT was my hardest thru-hike up to 2019. For one, the trail itself was pretty difficult. There were many challenges such as finding water, finding the trail, braving extreme weather (lightning, wind, cold, hail), and surviving days on end of steep ascents/descents and high elevations…most all of the trail through Colorado is above 10,000 feet. Not to mention all the bugs that plagued me for over a month through Montana and Wyoming.
I also faced the challenge of loosing my father to cancer. I took 1.5 months off to be with him and initially thought my hiking season was over. Dad got better with treatment, for awhile, and I returned to the trail just in time to hike the rest of it southbound. Many thru-hikers “flipped” this year to avoid all the snow in Colorado, so I ended up in the company of some of the same people I started with in New Mexico. It was kind of a strange and incongruous hiking season when compared to how smooth and perfect my PCT hike was the year before. But despite the derailments and obstacles, I persevered to become a stronger hiker and person.
Announcing the Continental Divide Trail
Day 0: The Land of Enchantment
Day 1: Great Beginnings
Day 2: The Wet Desert
Day 3: First Trail Magic
Day 4: Thirsty
Day 5: Silver City
Day 6: Trail Days
Day 7: A Happy Herpy Day
Day 8: Silver City Redo
Day 9: Hoodoos
Day 10: The Gila River Begins
Day 11: Doc Campbells
Day 12: Crawling up the River
Day 13: Open Spaces
Day 14: Horned Lizard Mountains
Day 15: Davila Ranch CDT Rest Stop
Day 16: Into Pie Town, Again
Day 17: TLC
Day 18: Cebolla, Sands, and Armijo Canyons
CDT Sojourn
CDT: Changing Directions
SOBO Day 1: A Beary good day
SOBO Day 2: Seeing it all
SOBO Day 3: Two Passes and Angry Birds
SOBO Day 4: Saying Goodbye to Glacier National Park
SOBO Day 5: Onto the 2nd section and blowdown hell
SOBO Day 6: Through the Woods
SOBO Day 7: Climbing up passes becomes a new sport
SOBO Day 8: Walls & Benchmark
SOBO Day 9: Soggy then Sunny
SOBO Day 10: Fireworks
SOBO Day 11: Easy Day
SOBO Day 12: So Many Potatoes
SOBO Day 13: I Love Helena
SOBO Day 14: Enchanted Forests
SOBO Day 15: So So
SOBO Day 16: March to Anaconda
SOBO Day 17: Storm Lake
SOBO Day 18: Wilderness Wonder
SOBO Day 19: Pintler Perfect
SOBO Day 20: Darby
SOBO Day 21: Idaho Potatoes
SOBO Day 22: Difficult Times
SOBO Day 23: Bitterroot Fun
SOBO Day 24: The Divide
SOBO Day 25: Leadore
SOBO Day 26: Moving Mountains
SOBO Day 27: Magic Miles
SOBO Day 28: Hard-earned Miles
SOBO Day 29: Lima, last “town” in Montana
SOBO Day 30: The Last Montana-Idaho Section
SOBO Day 31: One state in the bag
SOBO Day 32: Island Park & the Florida Hiker Gang
SOBO Day 33: Taking it Easy
SOBO Day 34: Entering Wyoming
SOBO Day 35: Yellowstone Whirlwind
SOBO Day 36: NOBO Reunion
SOBO Day 37: Bridger-Teton National Forest
SOBO Day 38: Dubois, first town visit in WY
SOBO Day 39: Bearanoia
SOBO Day 40: Green River Lakes Portal
SOBO Day 41: Change of Plans, Into Pinedale Early
SOBO Day 42: A Hikertrash Wedding and Zero On Trail
SOBO Day 43: Into the Winds
SOBO Day 44: Pack Goats!
SOBO Day 45: Cirque of the Towers Crush
SOBO Day 46: South Pass and Atlantic City
SOBO Day 47: The Great Basin or Bust
SOBO Day 48: Freedom to Walk
SOBO Day 49 & 50: Another Record & Well-deserved Zero
SOBO Day 51: The Road That Delivers Me out of the Basin
SOBO Day 52: Back in the Mountains
SOBO Day 53: Rocky Mountain High, Colorado
SOBO Day 54: I Remember This
SOBO Day 55 & 56: Steamboat Springs
SOBO Day 57: Escaping the Vortex
SOBO Day 58: Ridges and Peaks
SOBO Day 59: Grand Lake
SOBO Day 60: Cruising Along Lakes
SOBO Day 61: James Peak
SOBO Day 62: What Doesn’t Blow Me Away Only Makes Me Stronger
SOBO Day 63: A Special Day on Two 14ers, Grays & Torreys
SOBO Day 64: More Than I Could Even Imagine
SOBO Day 65: A Nero in Multiple Ski Towns
SOBO Day 66: Town to Town
SOBO Day 67: Leadville
SOBO Day 68: Staging
SOBO Day 69: Mt Massive & Twin Lakes
SOBO Day 70: I Love the Collegiate West
SOBO Day 71: Serendipity & the Infinite Bliss
SOBO Day 72: Monarch Pass, the Easy Way
SOBO Days 73-75: Time Off at Home
SOBO Day 76: Into the Cochetopa Hills
SOBO Day 77: Miles & Smiles
SOBO Day 78: San Luis Peak
SOBO Day 79: Lake City
SOBO Day 80: Camping at 13,000 Feet
SOBO Day 81: A Gift
SOBO Day 82: The Window
SOBO Day 83: The San Juans Have Their Say
SOBO Day 84: Braving Some Weather
SOBO Day 85: South Fork Zero
SOBO Day 86: Southern San Juans
SOBO Day 87: A Planned Campsite
SOBO Day 88: Cha, Cha, Cha, Chama!
SOBO Day 89: New Mexico, This Time in Fall
SOBO Day 90: A Walk in the Park
SOBO Day 91: Temperate Rainforests of NM
SOBO Day 92: Ghost Ranch Taco Tuesday & Santa Fe
SOBO Day 93: Desert Solitaire
SOBO Day 94: The San Pedros & Cuba
SOBO Day 95: A Trail of Rock & Sand
SOBO Day 96: Towards the Finish
SOBO Day 97: The Last Mountain
SOBO Day 98: Grants for the Finish
CDT to AZT Interim
2019 CDT Summary and Stats
2019 Trail Angel Recognition Post
2019 CDT & AZT Gear Summary
Completing the CO CDT Red Line through RMNP
#11 of 20: Mt. Yale 14,196′ & Trail Angels on the CT/CDT
CDT/CT Bonus 2022: Grays Peak, Argentine Spine, & Searle and Kokomo Passes to Leadville.