Hello! It’s Marin. This is the site where I’ll post trail updates while I’m thru-hiking the CDT. I’m planning to post here every time I’m in town, but I may occasionally miss a post due to lack of cell service. Because I won’t be in town at perfectly regular intervals, posts on here will also be somewhat irregular. I should be in town every 4-8 days, so expect posts to be somewhere around a week apart.

Below are answers to the most common questions I get.

What is the CDT?
The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDT/CDNST), is a trail following the geological continental divide from the Mexican border in New Mexico to the Canadian border in Montana. It also passes through Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho. The entire trail is around 3,100 miles long.

What is a thru-hike of the CDT?
A thru-hike is a continuous footpath of an entire long distance trail in a calendar year. In the case of the CDT, it is considered a thru-hike when the hiker creates a continuous footpath from one terminus to the other within 50 miles in either direction of the geological continental divide. This means I won’t stay on the National Scenic Trail the entire time, instead sometimes following alternates that were created to avoid road walks in some of the less well mapped out sections of the CDNST, to see some really cool places that are near but not on the CDNST, and to avoid some desert sections where water is scarce. When people speak of thru-hiking the CDT, they are generally referring to a hike that is made up of sections of the CDNST as well as alternates.

What is a continental divide?
According to National Geographic, a continental divide is “an area of raised terrain that separates a continent’s river systems that feed to different basins.” The series of mountain ranges that make up the North American continental divide are called the Great Dividing Range. This range includes the Rocky Mountains in the U.S., and I will spend quite a bit of time in the Rockies.

How long will it take?
5-6 months. To those of you doing the math in your head, that means I’ll need to average about 19 miles a day. I’ll start out doing about 12 miles a day and work my way up to doing 20+ miles a day as many days as possible, dependent on terrain and weather conditions.

Which way are you going?
I started northbound (NOBO) but got giardia while I was in the Gila River Alternate in New Mexico, so now I’m going southbound (SOBO). I’ll be starting at the Canadian border and walking south.

How?
With a backpack. I’ll stop into towns every 4-8 days to pick up food, filter water from natural sources as I go, and sleep in a tent. I’ll navigate with GPS and back-up paper maps. Otherwise, it’ll be me and my own two feet.

Why the CDT over other long distance trails? Why not the PCT?
The PCT was my original plan. The number of fire closures in the 2020 and 2021 seasons made me reconsider. While fire closures impact both trails, I thought the CDT’s network of alternates might end up making it easier to navigate around fire closures. I started researching, and realized that the CDT is a better fit for what I want to get out of a thru-hike. I’m excited about the flexibility, both the flexibility the alternates offer and the flexibility the trail is going to require of me. I also enjoy logistics, planning and research (although I’m definitely just a tad overwhelmed at the moment), and this has been the ultimate project.

Okay, but why a thru-hike at all?
I don’t have a short or simple answer to this question. I don’t have one reason, I have a lot of little reasons. I need to work on my relationship with my body and myself, and the trail will give me the space to do that. I want to be challenged, physically and mentally. I want to crash into the wall of my limit and have to keep going. I’ve never hiked out west and I want to see what nature in the US has to offer. I want to experience the beauty. I had the ability to choose how I wanted to struggle, and I chose this. It’s going to be beautiful and it’s going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I want to know what I’m made of.

Do other people do this?
Yes! A few hundred people thru-hike the CDT in any given year, and a few thousand people thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail every year.

Alone?
Yep. This is actually pretty common. I’m starting in the middle of the northbound bubble and will likely end up making some friends.

Why do you keep referring to people by aliases? Do you have one?
The aliases are trail names; they’re a tradition along the trail and pretty much everyone has one. They allow for a little bit of anonymity and quite a bit of entertainment. I started as Questionable Noodle (referencing a trip to Zaleski in Ohio where I made some very questionable decisions) but was renamed Drugstore by the tramily I hiked with during the northern part of the Gila River Alternate. Why Drugstore? Because I basically carried one, and I handed out band-aids, leuko-tape, ibuprofen, and other random OTC items on occasion.

But what about bears?
The CDT has black bears, and in the northern section, grizzlies. It also has cougars, moose, elk, bison, rattlesnakes, venomous spiders, and scorpions. Attacks/bites/stings from all of these creatures are rare and can largely be avoided by being aware of your surroundings and knowing what to do if you encounter them. Bear encounters can largely be avoided by following NPS guidelines for hiking and for handling and storing food. I’ll pick up bear spray once I enter grizzly country and will be storing my food in a hard sided canister.

How will people get ahold of you?
I have a satellite device that can be used for two way communication in emergency situations. Otherwise, you can feel free to email or text me, it just might take me a little bit to get back to you.

Are you posting updates anywhere else?
Yes! I’ll also be posting brief updates on @questionable.noodle on Instagram.