chris
12-04-2004, 19:48
Ok, my Great Divide Trail pages are now complete. Head over to
http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/faculty/cwillett
for a looksee at one of the best long trails in the world. Or, rather, long routes in the world as you'll find no blazes to guide you. I saw only a single GDT sign, and that was one that proclaimed that I was at the end of the trail. I kept on hiking north. A great feature of the GDT is that you do not have to abandon your life to thruhike it. My route covered about 650 miles over the course of a month or so, including 4 zero days. There is so much daylight up north that long days are easier than one might think.
For those of you without much experience in long distance hiking, a different trail might be better for the first experience. Be warned that there is little structure to the trail, and absolutely none of the good trail culture that we all like so much: No trail towns like Hot Springs or Duncannon, no Miss Janet, no coolers by the road on a hot day, no hiker gatherings. While the hiking window is short, the trail is of such a length that there doesn't have to be any race against winter. You can start when the weather is good in the beginning of July and be done while it is still good in August.
If there are any questions about the GDT, I'd be happy to answer them. Planning, logistics, permmits, etc, are all easier than you might think, and you don't need to be a route finding whiz to hike the trail. You just need a little spirit of adventure and a month or so of free time. Or, if you just want two weeks or so of trail time, there are some spectacular sections where you don't even have to worry about route finding, and the hiking is easy and the land sublime.
http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/faculty/cwillett
for a looksee at one of the best long trails in the world. Or, rather, long routes in the world as you'll find no blazes to guide you. I saw only a single GDT sign, and that was one that proclaimed that I was at the end of the trail. I kept on hiking north. A great feature of the GDT is that you do not have to abandon your life to thruhike it. My route covered about 650 miles over the course of a month or so, including 4 zero days. There is so much daylight up north that long days are easier than one might think.
For those of you without much experience in long distance hiking, a different trail might be better for the first experience. Be warned that there is little structure to the trail, and absolutely none of the good trail culture that we all like so much: No trail towns like Hot Springs or Duncannon, no Miss Janet, no coolers by the road on a hot day, no hiker gatherings. While the hiking window is short, the trail is of such a length that there doesn't have to be any race against winter. You can start when the weather is good in the beginning of July and be done while it is still good in August.
If there are any questions about the GDT, I'd be happy to answer them. Planning, logistics, permmits, etc, are all easier than you might think, and you don't need to be a route finding whiz to hike the trail. You just need a little spirit of adventure and a month or so of free time. Or, if you just want two weeks or so of trail time, there are some spectacular sections where you don't even have to worry about route finding, and the hiking is easy and the land sublime.