Continental Divide Trail – 2009
After finally clearing some potential hurdles, Deb, (the Walking Carrot) and I are taking off again this summer on another long hike. If you haven’t already read our CDT page from last summer (2008) when we hiked the upper half of the CDT, you may want to do so to catch up to us.
Our intention is to walk an unbroken path which will cover roughly the “southern third” of the CDT. We plan to spend June and July along the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), starting at the “official” CDTA monument at “Crazy Cook” at the Mexican border and heading north. We intend to be hiking until the end of July and aiming, if all goes well, for Spring Creek Pass in Colorado, about 8 weeks and 820 miles of hiking. The trail passes through very diverse terrain in New Mexico and southern Colorado and we are looking forward to exploring the plateaus, mesas, mountains, cliff dwellings, small desert towns and hot springs!
The CDT is a work in progress in New Mexico, with new trail tread or cross country markers and a variety of route options to/from the Southern Terminus. Alternate routes exist to connect with existing trail or to solve temporary, permanent or seasonal problems with public land access, snow, water (too much or too little) or other hazards. Often more than one alternate exists and their viability comes and goes with the season and year. Road walks, though less frequent than before, are still common in New Mexico. Planning and navigation are big challenges and route selection becomes a matter of personal choice. In short, no two CDT hikers walk the same route or plan the same trip. This is what appeals to many CDT hikers – the freedom and challenge of individual choice and circumstances. Uncertain availability, and compromised quality, of water is endemic to New Mexico and will add to the sense of adventure for this summer’s hike.
We hope to be able to get enough of the trail done this year that we will only have another couple months of hiking left and that we will be able to do that next year or the following………
Our website www.walkingcarrot.com will chronicle our trip, just as it did last summer. We believe you will find this a great source of information for this and other trips. To continue to receive periodic e-mail updates about our journey, go to the website and click on the “subscribe” button to “opt in” to one of our email lists. You can select the “trip reports” which will occur on average about ten days and be a short summary of a couple paragraphs, or the “daily journals” which will update on the same schedule but with much more info. You can opt out at any time. For those who prefer we will also offer an RSS feed. Or, if you prefer, you can just check back to the website periodically for information. If you subscribed last year, there is no need for you to do anything further.
On our website you will also find a copy of our detailed itinerary for those who like to crunch numbers. There is a higher degree of uncertainty than “normal” about when and where we will end this summer’s segment. So, this itinerary will be a roadmap, but don’t expect that we will be following it all the time and it is subject to change. We hope you will come along and follow our progress by periodically checking back in on this website, or better yet by signing up for out email list or the RSS feed so you can receive all of our updates in a timely manner. If you feel so inclined please leave us comments, or to contact us while we are on the trail. If you need a response urgently and have my pocketmail address, use it – otherwise my sister will be monitoring both my regular email account as well as email from this website and will forward any urgent email to me.
See the page on “How to Contact Us” for further details. More information on the CDT can be found by following the links on our website to the Continental Divide Trail Society as well as the Continental Divide Trail Alliance.
We hope your summer is a filled with adventure and spirit as will be ours!
Phil Hough, aka Nowhere Man, May 2009
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