CDT Peeps

“I have a young friend just out of the Army and home from Iraq for a few months. It looks as if he's signing up to lead a trail crew in building some sections of the CDT this spring/summer. He's young and fit, but has never done any real backpacking. We met to discuss what gear he would need to enable him to live in the mountains for 12-15 days at a time while doing quite hard trail work. I told him what I know, but also suggested he should speak with someone familiar with the terrain, weather vagaries, etc. Is there anyone out there extensively familiar that would be willing to exchange emails with this guy, help him get outfitted and get him up to speed? Thanks.”

“If you don't get much of a response here, I know there are some people over on Whiteblaze.net who have done the CDT. I believe that Lion King is one of them. Maybe Sly too.

You might not get much of a response today because a lot of them are at SoRuck.
last edited: 1/19/08 2:24:41 PM”

“Yeah, I know weekends are a bad time for anything but fuego:), but I can't trust my memory to hang onto this til Monday. I did tell him of WhiteBlaze and he's been lurking there. For some strange reason I didn't recommend this sight to lurk...”

“don't seem strange to me...”

“I can help, might even be able to give him some gear. Keeping him away from here is a good idea, lol. Just in case you didn't know, it really does not matter where you go in the lower 48, its pretty much the same gear, just different weather. Lightning is the major difference out there, due to exposure of it. Plus a few meat eating cats and bears in some spots.
last edited: 1/19/08 4:30:50 PM”

“Well, Davey, you're not going to be too happy about this, but it seems I did forget the Alamo.

If you will email me (my profile), I will give him your addy. Thanks much.”

“as a trail crew leader for various non profits, I would suggest that he just get standard backpacking gear, but make sure that he has a giant backpack. he is going to end up carrying way more than he ever would on a normal trip and needs to have a backpack that can handle the volume and weight.

Out of curiousity, is he working for the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps Montana Conservation Corps or Southwest Conservation Corps?

If he needs hiking boots he should also probably get full leather boots that will last. trail work is much harder on boots than just hiking and he will end up with deep cuts in the leather that would have destroyed synthetic boots

thats all i got for now”