Colorado CDT

“Help!! My friend and I are doing this 763 mile hike next summer, and we are looking for someone who has done, part, or the whole thing before, to give us some firsthand advice. Let me know if you can help. Thanks!

Chris”

“cfoye, there's a poster by the name of maverick who has the same idea as you. Maybe you could put your heads together and see what you come up with. Maybe someone else know who/where mav is and how often he? posts....”

“We hiked the entire CDT in '99. I'd be glad to help out if I can. Get back to me directly at spiritbear2k@hotmail.com.”

“What are the bare bones trip details, Ginny? When to when, direction, the basics?”

“Please recommend a section hike of about 150 mi. that can be done in early July. How is the snowpack this year?”

“I think her trip was posted on Backpacker mag site . Search in 99 I guess.”

“Yeah Ginny, give us the generalized rundown on a typical thru-hike of the CDT. Curious minds wanna know!
BTW - hate that I missed ya in '92!”

“Sorry - I've been busy the last couple of days. Barebones of the CDT hike? We started May 30, 1999 in central Montana and hiked north because of high snow and a late spring. Turned around at the Canadian border and hiked south. Got kicked out of Glacier because of grizzly bear activity, but we had hiked that section the year before so it wasn't as upsetting, besides the weather was really bad and the snow barely passible. We hiked off and on in snow for the first 5 weeks. Last falling snow was July 4. First autumn snow was Sept. 3. July 10 I started a rock slide that took off the tip of my finger ? spent five days in Salmon to take care of it. Unexpected blessings resulted. Reached the Wyoming border around Aug. 1, Colorado border Sept 1, New Mexico border Oct. 15, Mexican border November 30. We started with a friend, but since we were slow and he wasn't, he left us after Wisdom, MT. We only saw 8 other long distance hikers the whole trip. It was incredibly beautiful ? highlights being the Bob Marshall in snow, the Bitterroots, the Winds, all the Wilderness areas in Colorado, the area around Ghost Ranch in NM and the Gila. Best was all the wildlife ? we saw grizzlies, elk, moose, deer, mountain goats, mountain sheep, eagles, hawks, etc. It was really difficult for me ? but very worthwhile.”