The start of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) does to hikers whatever you would consider the opposite of “ease them into the hike” (that’s right, it fucks them in the back of a Volkswagen). The water sources hikers have to drink from (yes, you have to drink from them, the alternative is dehydration and a […]
Continental Divide Trail In Photos: New Mexico Bootheel
Despite the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) having numerous starting (or ending, if you’re one of those weird southbound hikers) points, many people (myself included) consider Crazy Cook Monument to be the “official” southern terminus (probably because there’s a monument there with the CDT logo and an inscription that says “Southernmost Point”). The Bootheel (that is, […]
Continental Divide Trail Week 6: The San Juans
DAY 36: Colorado Appa is the first one out of camp this morning as we make our approach to the New Mexico/Colorado border (I can’t imagine why Appa is so eager to get to Colorado). Moist and I set out together up a climb through some snow. The snow isn’t deep, but the ground is […]
Continental Divide Trail Week 5: Don’t Die
DAY 29: Cuba, New Mexico A benefit of cowboy camping? (That’s sleeping with no shelter, aka just your sleeping bag/pad on the ground, for those of you who haven’t been paying attention.) When you can’t sleep at night you can just lie on the ground and watch shooting stars (or possibly alien spacecraft) whiz across […]
Caching Water In The New Mexico Bootheel On The CDT
“Do I need to cache water for the first section of the Continental Divide Trail?” This question was a big concern of mine before starting the CDT. Assuming you are beginning your hike at Crazy Cook, the first 85 mi / 136 km of the CDT is a scary place for thru-hikers (especially those out […]
Continental Divide Trail Week 4: One Month In
DAY 22: On-trail pizza delivery There may only be two of us now that Appa is MIA until we make it to Grants, but that doesn’t mean Moist and I get going any earlier in the morning (it’s not like we start hiking together anyway – you start hiking when you’re packed up and ready […]
Continental Divide Trail Week 3: We Got A Dog
CDT DAY 15 – Last day in the Gila Today is our last day in the Gila and to celebrate our departure back into the high desert we have a rare morning fire. Technically, we’ll still be in the Gila National Forest for a bit, but the campground at Snow Lake marks the end of […]
Continental Divide Trail Week 2: The Gila
CDT DAY 8 – Arriving in Silver City After falling asleep in one of the most crap places I’ve ever camped, we wake up and bushwhack our way back to the trail. Silver City is within striking distance and few things rival “town” as motivators (I guess trail magic or thunderstorms would be close behind). […]
Continental Divide Trail Week 1: The Bootheel
For a detailed account of Day 1 on trail, check out this post: Continental Divide Trail Day 1: The Middle of Nowhere. CDT DAY 2: The First Detour On my first full day on the CDT I wake up what I would generally consider fantastic weather – not a cloud in the sky. However, in […]
Continental Divide Trail Day 1: The Middle of Nowhere
It turns out that the adventure of a 3,100 mi / 5,000 km thru-hike of the Continental Divide Trail begins before you take your first steps away from the US/Mexico border toward Canada. It starts on the drive down to the southern terminus. Driving from Phoenix (that’s in Arizona for all my US-geography-challenged friends), I […]
