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View Full Version : CDT SOBO start ~Aug23, possible?



Coleus
10-28-2012, 19:21
Hey, pretty simple question here. I won't be able to stop working until late August. Can I SOBO without dying in CO/NM? From what I've read, as long as I haul ass, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming would be nice... If this wouldn't work, how would you flip flop? Would you do Do San Juans first, then Glacier down, then skip San Juans, then down the desert?

If a PCT SOBO/flip-flop hike would work better in this time frame, I would be interested in that as well.

I should mention that I am in good shape, and a professional trail builder experience camping in the early spring and late autumns of Alaska. Certainly doesn't make me a cold-weather expert, but I've slept in deep snow before.

handlebar
10-28-2012, 19:54
Suggest you access the historical snow depth info over at postholer.com for either trail. I don't see a way to hike either trail starting ~Aug 23rd and hiking continuously until complete. Even with flipping around, I don't think you can miss dangerous, even life-threatening, conditions with a hike extending at least four months. That means you'll have to have completed the hike by Dec 23rd.

Spirit Walker
10-28-2012, 23:38
We had our first SOBO snow on September 4th. Not a big one, but it was the beginning of the cold season.
There is almost always at least one good snowfall in mid-September.

What you might consider is just hike half the trail. Start in Rawlins and hike south. Hike the northern half another year.

Mags
10-29-2012, 00:11
Thought I'm glad I thru-hiked the CDT, think doing it in two chunks is a good way to go. Less likely to have to take lower elevation alternate routes and you can pick and choose the seasons to do it.

Rawlins south is probably a good bet (assuming winter does not come early like it did in 2006. This past year would have been a great year to hike the CDT SoBo as a counter example)

Dogwood
10-29-2012, 01:27
If there's one long(2500 miles+) trail within the U.S. that I would give serious consideration to hiking in two or three long segments it's the CDT! It's generally way too beautiful of a hike with SO MANY worthy higher elevation alternates and side trips to miss out doing it in a hurried fashion. WAY TOO OFTEN, CDTers get into this rushed hurried gotta go gotta go gotta beat the clock beat the weather wow it's a LONG trail/route thru-hike feeling that they start lopping off beautiful and worthy parts of the CDT in order to supposedly finish it. F*&%ing shame! I ask, what does it mean to finish the CDT under those conditions where you are lopping off considerable miles of the CDT to get er done? Unless you carefully manage your thru or get a very favorable weather and/ or are doing BIG TIME miles a straight CDT thru is going to be difficult to say the least AND I strongly suspect you will be doing it by lopping off significant CDT mileage.

You might be better off doing a bunny hop or flip-flop on the PCT, depending on weather. For example, start NOBO at KM. Hike to Manning Park. Then pick up your miles SOBO from KM. Depends on mpd though. OR do a NOBO from KM to somewhere near the OR/CA border. Jump to Manning Park and head SOBO. Pick up the rest of those SoCal PCT miles in the Mojave Desert.