About 3.100 miles thru hiking from Mexico to Canada
The Continental Divide Trail, or the CDT, is a 3.100 miles (5.000 km) long-distance footpath connecting Mexico and Canada. It follows the Rocky Mountains through the US states of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
We are following a young lady on YouTube these days, who is ambitiously hiking the American long-distance hiking trails of the National Scenic Trails System. In 2015 she ran the Appalachian Trail with 2.200 miles (3.500 km) and in 2017 the Pacific Crest Trail with 2.700 miles (4300 km). She has been on the Continental Divide Trail for a few days now. Every Wednesday you can now watch a new episode on YouTube and follow in real time how she is doing on this long-distance hiking trail.
When she conquers the Continental Divide Trail after the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, she gets the so-called Triple Crown. You do not get rich with this title, you can maybe win a flowerpot and a lot of respect. Whoever gets the Triple Crown has covered about 8.000 miles (12.800 km) on foot through the wilderness of the United States.
The Triple Crown Trails consist of the three long-distance hiking trails Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail. They belong to the 11 long-distance trails of the National Scenic Trails System, a network of long-distance hiking trails in the USA that have been named the National Scenic Trail because of their special natural beauty. Read more about the National Scenic Trails here.
The Continental Divide Trail, CDT for short, is one of the lonelier long-distance hiking trails with about 77 long distance hikers (CDTC Official List) in 2017, which have cracked the 3.100 miles. For comparison: in 2017, 3839 long-distance hikers (Annual update of the AT) were on the Appalachian Trail.
77 long-distance hikers over a distance of 3.100 miles (5.000 kilometers) and in a period of one year – if you meet a long-distance hiker, you are very lucky. The hiking community on the long-distance hiking trails is very important for anyone who tackles several hundred or thousand miles on foot, which is why the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) is a real challenge.
We keep our fingers crossed for Dixie and her two companions, say thumbs up and bon camino (Spanish saying from the Camino de Santiago/Way of Saint James for Happy Trail)!
Map USA | Triple Crown | AT, PCT, CDT
More about the Continental Divide Trail: here
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