Trails don’t just appear on the landscape. That two foot-wide path that carries you over fourteen thousand-foot peaks, through mountain meadows, and along mighty rivers – it took years to plan, to garner consensus among many different stakeholders, and to build. At the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, we often speak passionately about completing the trail, but what that means isn’t always clear.
As Dan Carter, CDTC’s Trail and Lands Conservation Specialist, explains, completing the trail means fulfilling the vision and subsequent plans laid out for the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDT) back in 1978. This vision entails having a continuous, protected scenic trail along the Continental Divide corridor. Dan’s role involves research, planning, design, and coordination with agencies and stakeholders to find routes that will take the CDT off roads and onto trails on protected public lands. What may sound simple takes years of meeting with people and scouting terrain near the Divide.
Dan is working with Big Agnes to complete a section of trail at Muddy Pass – the last gap in the CDT through Colorado. Where there should be a highly scenic 24-inch trail traversing protected public lands, CDT travelers instead must endure a 14-mile stretch of forest service roads, county roads, and state highways – all open to motorized traffic and highly dangerous. Since adopting 75 miles of trail, including Muddy Pass, near their headquarters in Steamboat Springs, CO, Big Agnes has gone into the field with Dan to help scout locations for the trail reroute, and made a $30,000 donation to support the relocation of the trail.
In 2018, Big Agnes adopted those 75 miles of the CDT as part of their support of CDTC. Big Agnes employees maintain their adopted section of trail, mark the trail as needed, help keep it free of trash, and promise to steward the trail whenever they’re recreating on it. Which, it turns out, with the trail’s proximity to the office, is quite often. In 2018, to celebrate Big Agnes’s trail adoption, they decided to hike the entire Colorado section of the trail over the course of the summer. Yup. 740 miles! Three months, 70 employees, 146,000 vertical feet up and down, topping out at 14,278 feet on Grays Peak summit. Unfortunately, there is still a section of Big Agnes’s adopted portion that takes you out of the wilderness and onto the road – a busy highway to be exact.
After reviewing a couple conceptual reroute alignments with stakeholders, including US Senator Cory Gardner, field scouting began this summer. Dan identified some good existing trails and potential routes for the CDT during a scouting trip. Now, the working group, made up of CDTC, U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and state agency representatives, will continue to work with local landowners and stakeholders to refine the alignment, secure access, and begin planning.
Like at Muddy Pass, wherever the CDT follows roads or major highways, which are dangerous and do not meet National Scenic Trail standards, there is a demonstrated need to reroute or build the trail. After identifying these sections, the process involves looking over maps and GIS data and talking with local land management agencies, trail users, stakeholders, and landowners about possible trail alignments, ideas, and concerns. All that information gets boiled down into a potential route. Then, Dan gets on the ground to see what it looks like and to identify any unforeseen barriers or features that would add to or detract from the CDT experience. Dan brings all that information back to the group of stakeholders and they refine the alignment based on the field scouting.
Scouting alignments also involve speaking with landowners and public land permittees to address concerns and discuss access across land they own or use for other purposes such as grazing. The local knowledge of these people is critical to getting the lay of the land and connecting with those that know it best. This planning phase is an iterative process in which Dan takes into consideration many ideas and tries to design a route that will work the best for everyone involved from thru-hikers to ranchers. Once the alignment is decided and legal access is secured, the trail alignment is flagged on the ground. Finally, USFS trail crews, non-profit conservation corps, or volunteer crews led by CDTC construct the trail.
Completing the trail is important for many reasons. As Dan puts it, “A National Scenic Trail is a national treasure. Trails of this length and quality are found nowhere else. So, to complete the CDT as originally envisioned – a continuous, protected corridor from Mexico to Canada – is fulfilling a grand idea that protects, connects, and showcases the people and landscapes of the Continental Divide and the American West. From a day hike to a long journey spanning months, for locals to the international traveler, the CDT has something for everyone.”
As a supporter of the CDT, you can demonstrate your commitment to the trail by making the Pledge to Protect, sharing it with friends and family, joining one of our volunteer trail work days or Trail Adopter trainings, and checking out other ways to support the CDT.
Dan Carter is CDTC’s Trails and Lands Conservation Specialist. Dan grew up in Tennessee and headed west to New Mexico after completing school. In addition to driving trail completion for CDTC, Dan co-founded and serves as President of the Southern New Mexico Trail Alliance. Dan has run trail races, backpacked, bikepacked, and maintained trails along sections of the CDT. When not on a trail, Dan is usually fixing up his “shack” in the desert, petting his two dogs, rock climbing, or still trying to learn to play music.
