By Francesca Governali
For folks who live in Colorado, it can be easy to confuse The Colorado Trail (CT) with the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). Despite the significant difference in length and overall geography – the CT spans 567 miles between Durango and Denver, while the CDT runs through five states and covers 3,100 miles from Mexico to Canada – the fact that the two are co-located for 314 miles in Colorado makes the distinction even more confusing.
As a CDTC staff member, I’ve been asked, “It takes about a month to hike the CDT, right?” When this first happened, I was confused about how so many folks thought you could hike 3,100 miles so quickly. Once I realized how often the two trails get conflated in Colorado, my go-to answer became, “I think you’re thinking of The Colorado Trail, rather than the Continental Divide Trail. They do overlap in Colorado, but the CDT takes 4 – 6 months to hike over 3,000 miles in 5 states.”
Despite all the potential for confusion, it’s amazing to have two different, well-known long trails running through the same state. Both offer spectacular views, diverse ecosystems, and a strong trail community, whether you’re hiking for one day or taking on a longer backpacking trip.
Luckily, here at the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, we have a strong partner in The Colorado Trail Foundation (CTF) which stewards the CT, and by extension, the section of the CDT coaligned with the CT in Colorado. As the CTF website explains,
“The first major expansion of The Colorado Trail since its completion in 1987 came in 2012 when approximately 80 miles of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail on the western side of the Collegiate Peaks were added to the CT’s total mileage, increasing it (altogether) from 485 to 567. The result is a spectacular alternative to the CT’s original route on the eastern side of the Collegiates.
The entire CT Collegiate West is co-located with the CDT. The CT, before the addition of the Collegiate West, had long shared 234 miles of trail with the CDT. After the Continental Divide Trail Alliance, which oversaw the building and maintenance of the CDT, dissolved in early 2012, The Colorado Trail Foundation responded to a request from the U.S. Forest Service and agreed to provide CTF volunteer stewardship on approximately 80 additional Collegiate West miles as well as to add this scenic alternative to the heart of the CT. With this addition, in all now, CTF volunteers proudly maintain about 314 miles of the CDT. This great stewardship work is done in partnership with both the Continental Divide Trail Coalition and the U.S. Forest Service.”
I had a chance to catch up with the CTF’s Salida-based Field Operations Manager, Darin Radatz, to learn more about the CTF and how overlapping with the CDT impacts the CT.
Can you tell us a bit about the mission and operation of the CTF?
The CTF has been stewarding the trail since it was completed in 1987. The CTF’s stated mission is: “to provide and maintain, through voluntary and public involvement, and in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and federal Bureau of Land Management, a linear, non-motorized, sustainable, recreation trail between Denver and Durango [Colorado]. This trail will provide multi-day, inspirational, and educational values keyed to the diverse, high mountain, natural environment.”
We are very much volunteer-driven, especially because we only have three staff members. And we are lucky to have so many dedicated volunteers who enable us to continue to improve and maintain the trail. A lot of trail adopters have been doing 20-30 years of volunteer work and we have close to 100 individuals or groups covering the whole trail with 20 more volunteer trail adopters on a waiting list.
What do you do in your role?
The short answer is that the CTF Field Operations Manager role is to conduct crew leader and adopter trainings; identify and recon potential trail crew projects; plan volunteer trail crews; plan trail crew logistics and prepare all equipment ahead of the trail crew season; support trail crews; coordinate and communicate with Forest Service staff; coordinate and support the Adopt A Trail program; and maintain the CTF facilities and equipment. Not mentioned in my job description is also dealing with COVID-19, which took up a great deal of time this season [because I was] creating new protocols hand in hand with the Forest Service. As you might guess, there’s a lot more involved with each of these tasks, but that’s the overview.
What do you see as some of the benefits of the CT overlapping with the CDT?
Having them co-located brings a lot more exposure to the trails and brings more long term supporters of both trails. It’s a life-changing experience for everyone who hikes these trails and they often end up wanting to give back. It’s great because we have so many different people who use the trails, there’s a big mix of how people choose to give back.
Enthusiast traveling one of these great trails nearly always learns something about the other route. There’s tremendous synergy.
What challenges have you faced with COVID-19 this season?
Challenges have ranged from limited funding to volunteer crew restrictions imposed by Forest Service ranger districts. In a typical year, we’re able to go above and beyond our expected volunteer hours with many more volunteer hours than we anticipate. Because of the COVID-19 related restrictions, we have had a lot of challenges with people being able to complete volunteer crew and adopter hours.
We had to cancel over 18 trail crew projects. That’s hard, but we’re working to manage these and make sure they can happen next year. There are also a few longer term projects that we weren’t able to get started on, such as reroutes that need to happen in the future.
How did usership of the CT change this summer because of limits on state-to-state travel and related impacts like a reduction in the number of people thru-hiking the CDT?
We had a ton more people thru-hiking the CT this season. People had plans to do other trips, like the CDT, and instead chose to hike the CT, starting in June or July when resupply towns were welcoming visitors again. While we don’t have any exact visitor use counts for specific sections, we had way more people complete the trail. In a typical year 400 finishers is a high count. By mid-September this year, there were already somewhere between 500 and 600 finishers!
Even with more people this year, the CT typically stays cleaner than other trails. The biggest impact of increased use is that there are more trail travelers at each of the disbursed campsites. Sometimes encountering a full site, hikers needed to continue for miles until they found room to camp.
People seem to get confused about the CT and CDT in Colorado. How are they different?
Yeah, that happens a lot. People don’t seem to realize that they’re co-located. Even long term trail adopters sometimes think they are just stewarding the CT rather than both trails. We’re working to make sure people know about the overlap and about both trails. The biggest difference is that the CT is just in Colorado while the CDT spans five states.
Something I’ve learned recently, however, is that some areas are weirdly signed and just have signage for one of the trails even though they are co-located. This increases confusion between the trails and we’re working on that too.
What other changes did you see with trail visitors this season?
Hiker communication has been five times the norm. Having apps like Guthook for folks to crowdsource information has been really helpful for safety and usage. Also, a lot of new people are getting out for the first time. I think this is a result of COVID-19, but it’s great to see more people exploring the trail for the first time.
What’s your favorite part of the CT?
Segment 5 – which includes wilderness areas and also the Collegiate Peaks area where it overlaps with the CDT! I do want to try to hike the whole thing, but will likely do it in sections.
–
CDTC is grateful to have partners like the CTF and volunteers from partner organizations who care for parts of the trail, especially when we can have crews working on both trails at the same time.
As a former CT trail crew member, Carolyn McShea, puts it:
“Well-maintained trails make outdoor experiences more comfortable, and by extension, more enjoyable. They also make outdoor experiences safer, more accessible, and more sustainable— a well-constructed trail will last much longer than a poorly-constructed one or a game path. When I’m working or hiking on the CT/ CDT overlap, I always feel like I’m participating in and contributing to a bigger trail community. It’s inspirational to meet hikers who are doing a different trail or route than you and have the opportunity to be on two trails at once!”
Though our field programs season is coming to an end, there will be plenty of trail work to be done next season! If you’re interested in getting involved with stewardship of either the CDT or the CT, check out our volunteer opportunities here: CDTC and the CTF.
Francesca Governali is CDTC’s Community Engagement Coordinator. In her free time she has been improving her altitude baking skills, tackling her next big knitting project, and continues to enjoy getting to know Colorado’s public lands.
