Discrimination on the Continental Divide Trail (Class of 2023)

The Continental Divide Trail is growing in popularity and is hiked each year by a growing number of people from around the United States and around the world. As with its counterpart, the Pacific Crest Trail, the CDT has slowly become a more diverse and less exclusive space over the years as it’s become better documented and more well-known (on this note, be careful with your trail family).

As part of the Continental Divide Trail Hiker Survey, hikers are asked whether they experienced (or witnessed) ageist, sexist, racist, homophobic, or transphobic behavior during their thru-hikes – from either their fellow CDT hikers or from people in town and/or met along the trail (e.g. day hikers).

These accounts must be documented and shared to remind those within the thru-hiking community that just because they may not have personally experienced any of this, it still happens to others. Covering your ears and yelling, “I HIKE TO GET AWAY FROM THIS,” “EVERYONE ON THE TRAIL IS SUPER GOOD PEOPLE,” or “I’VE NEVER SEEN ANY OF THIS HAPPEN” doesn’t make it any less true.

As more hiker experiences are documented and the trail community becomes more aware of problematic areas and/or behavior, we can continue to build the long-distance hiking community into the incredible and welcoming place so many of us have had the privilege of experiencing in the past.

Lastly, I know that “Discrimination on the Continental Divide Trail” is not the most accurate title since, semantically, discrimination is just a piece of the issue. Still, I thought the word discrimination did an adequate job of capturing the sentiment of this article, as opposed to something like “social issues and/or injustices perpetrated on and/or adjacent to the CDT.”

I always welcome constructive feedback on what would make this information more useful, insightful, or otherwise valuable to the thru-hiking community. Comment at the end of this post, or get in touch.

Social Issues on the CDT

The following breakdown shows the percentage of women, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC hikers who experienced sexism, racism, or homophobia/transphobia on the Continental Divide Trail. Because the age ranges for people who reported experiencing some form of ageism on the trail varied wildly, the percentages given for this category reflect all hikers.

According to the data, people in town were generally more problematic than other hikers, but not always; as was the case with LGBTQIA+ hikers reporting more issues on the trail than off the trail. Here’s a look at the numbers.

Ageism

Overall, 9.2% of hikers experienced ageism on the Continental Divide Trail – nearly even with the 9.5% from last year.

Of this 9.2%, 5.9% experienced ageism only from other hikers, 2.0% only from people in town, and 1.3% from their fellow hikers and people in town.

As ageism was reported by hikers of a wide variety of ages, these percentages encompass all hikers.

Homophobia/Transphobia

Overall, 25.8% of LGBTQIA+ hikers experienced homophobia or transphobia on the Continental Divide Trail – up from 23.5% last year.

Of this 25.8%, 7.4% experienced homophobia or transphobia from only other hikers, 3.7% only from people in town, and 14.8% from their fellow hikers and people in town.

Racism

Overall, 49.7% of BIPOC hikers experienced racism on the Continental Divide Trail – nearly even with last year’s 50%.

Of this 49.7%, 0% experienced racism only from other hikers, 16.7% only from people in town, and 33% from their fellow hikers and people in town.

Sexism

Overall, 51% of women experienced sexism or sexual harassment on the Continental Divide Trail – up from 43.2% last year.

Of this 51%, 8.5% experienced sexism or sexual harassment only from other hikers, 23.4% only from people in town, and 19.1% from their fellow hikers and people in town.

When asked to recount examples of the sexism or otherwise inappropriate behavior witnessed on the Continental Divide Trail, here are some of the responses received.

Ageism

• As an older man, some young hikers made comments about my age that made me feel “less than.”

Women on the CDT

• As a young, solo female hiker, I experienced my fair share of uncomfortable comments about my ability to complete a thru-hike.

• I was sexually assaulted outside of Grants, New Mexico, heading to Pie Town. Luckily I had family in the area to save me and help file a police report, but that trauma greatly influenced my remaining miles.

• Sexualized comments regarding my clothes (i.e. torn hoodie with some exposed skin on my back).

• Being a woman, I got lots of comments that I must be scared out there on my own/that I should carry a gun. In the more rural communities, some hitches/locals made racist comments.

• Four out of five states that the CDT goes through are red, meaning the small towns and rural places you walk through are very pro-Trump, and it’s common to encounter ignorant and bigoted locals. As for problematic hikers, it’s uncommon, but it happens. I watched a “pink blazer” stalk and harass a female hiker, and I saw some subtle transphobic comments from thru-hikers about a trans hiker.

• As a young female woman, I was questioned at times and given lots of unsolicited advice, mainly when I was alone.

BIPOC Hikers

• A bar in Augusta had bumper stickers that said “Black Cows Matter”

• Lots of Confederate flags.

• There was a man leaving racist and otherwise discriminatory comments on FarOut, with a racist trail name, who was hiking this year.  His comments were typically downvoted, but there were folks defending him out there.  A number of towns had discriminatory reputations.

• In Pinedale, Wyoming, I went to a restaurant, and when I went to hand the cashier my money to pay, he said, “ You’re free from enslavement now.” I’m Black and was visibly offended.

• Some white hunters in San Juans (Colorado) using the N-word and talking about “finding some hiker bitches to fuck”.

• When I got out of the shower in my motel room in Butte, there was a swastika and the phrase Hate n-word (but spelled out) on the bathroom mirror. Also, in Montana, there is a Black Cows Matter bumper sticker and similar in an Augusta bar.

• People seemed very willing to tell me their racist opinions, perhaps because I’m blonde and white.

LGBTQIA+ Hikers

• I regularly felt uncomfortable in towns or near roads, also at times on the trail, as a queer person on the trail.

• I witnessed a local in Rawlins, Wyoming, aggressively yell homophobic remarks at a male hiker wearing running shorts. Perhaps they were too short for him? It was scary.

• The most significant experience was being physically attacked by a hiker who found out I was trans.

• The guy who gave me a ride into Dubois, Wyoming, expressed some pretty outdated views about the LGBTQ community.

• One hiker was quite transphobic and made a group pretty uncomfortable. He and his friend were ostracized, and most hikers were supportive of the trans hikers.

Miscellaneous Notes

Lastly, here are a couple of comments from hikers that didn’t necessarily fit anywhere else but that I thought warranted.

• People said things like, “If I’d known you were from California, I wouldn’t have given you a ride.” They would also go on tirades about wind power or conspiracy theories.

• Wyoming. Holy shit.

Final Thoughts

As stated above, this is a new addition to the Continental Divide Trail Survey. Hopefully, there comes a day when these accounts along the CDT are so negligible that they cannot even be meaningfully measured by the survey.

In the comments section where the above stories are pulled from, I also got a few misguided responses, such as, “We are going through small towns; can’t expect perfection from the townsfolk.” Let’s be clear: asking people to be decent human beings and to have respect for everyone regardless of who they are is not asking for perfection; it’s asking for the bare minimum. Living in a rural community does not give someone a license to be a bigot.

If you have any thoughts on how this data could be better summarized or used, please let me know. For now, I hope what I was able to capture from last year’s class helps to shed some light on issues in the trail community.