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  1. #41
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    ...quad crown

  2. #42

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    Quote Originally Posted by litespeed View Post
    That is absolute baloney. The CDT has two "official" alternates. One is in Rocky Mountain NP and the other is Chief Mountain.
    What was the "official" southern terminus before Crazy Crook, which is relatively new? Yeah, I'm not sure either, but Columbus was an official alternate, and as far as I know, still is.

    For more info..

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Divide_Trail

    http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-...l#.U92UWeNdWSo

    http://therealdivide.com/the-trail/

    of course there's more.

  3. #43

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    Quote Originally Posted by litespeed View Post
    As someone who has done the trail utilizing both Ley and Bearcreek maps, I couldn't disagree more. For the official route, BC is vastly more functional for navigation, particularly if you are going to carry a gps. Having the UTM grid on a map when you are off-trail enables you to figure out exactly where you are and quickly get back on route. The CDT is really hard to follow in some places - your hike will be easier if you have the right tools. The only downside of the BC maps is that it only covers the official trail. In order to do the alternates, you will also have to carry some Ley maps.
    Not every CDTer wants to hike the same hike though. Some like to be aware of and choose a route from the widest range of alternates. And, some still don't only or mainly hike using GPS for navigation. You might consider some hikers actually enjoy map and compass navigation. Some users of map and compass navigation are quite proficient at it. Some consider navigation like this in ways more adventuresome. Some hikers feel comfortable with, and purposefully choose, being off route so they can explore to a great extent. Getting quickly back on route may not always be the main objective. I'm one of these hikers and it's my guess there are others who hike with similar goals. To each their own. HYOH but your comment, "the CDT is really hard to follow in some places - your hike will be easier if you have the right tools" hints at Bearcreek maps and GPS to be the "right tools." And, that's not to say all the Bear Creek maps I've seen haven't been really really well done I'm just saying not every CDTer does the same hike and the "right tools" can and often do vary from one CDTer to another.

  4. #44
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    Just throwing my name into the mix. I thru-hiked the Florida Trail in 2009 and the AT in 2013, the guy that I finished hiking with (from Dalton, MA to Baxter) is going to be thru-hiking the CDT with me next year as well; trail name OB (Old and Busted). We plan on starting April 19th. Any number of those that would care to join us are more than welcome.

    Personally, me being from Florida and him from Georgia, we have never experienced desert hiking before so New Mexico in particular really intimidates us. Otherwise we're beyond pumped to go on the hiker weight loss program again with intermittent showers a given.

  5. #45
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    Chuppacabra, You might want to delay your start depending on the snow situation in the South San Juan Wilderness. I started out after the PCT kickoff in '10 which wasn't a particularly high snow year and encountered snow that slowed me to ~1 mph north of Cumbres Pass. Plus, if you plan to set off from Crazy Cook, the CDTC might not yet be running a shuttle that early.
    Handlebar
    GA-ME 06; PCT 08; CDT 10,11,12; ALT 11; MSPA 12; CT 13; Sheltowee 14; AZT 14, 15; LT 15;FT 16;NCT-NY&PA 16; GET 17-18

  6. #46
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    I haven't heard yet if the CDTC is going on the same schedule for 2015 but I was on the first official shuttle on April 10, 2014 to Crazy Cook.
    Thanks Teresa ! There was actually an unofficial trip the day before with Jim and Jill I believe.
    I used the Bear Creek Maps, both the "Official" and the Alternate routes. I also use a gps so it worked very well with the waypoints from the
    Bear Creek website.
    The only difficulty that I had was organizing the maps to be carried between the official route and the alternates. They are in different books
    and the Alternate routes are not shown on the Official Route maps. So it got kind of confusing.

  7. #47

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    Before we had map books, it was very simple: we sat down with the maps we intended to use (primarily BLM and FS) and marked the routes we intended to use and the alternates on the map ourselves before we left home. That way we knew what the alternatives were and why they might be a good option (i.e. more scenic like Ghost Ranch and the Gila, or better water access like the Cebolla or Sweetwater routes or access to 'town' like Atlantic City, etc.)

    If you do use Bearcreek's maps, it's not that hard to mark the alternate routes on them, either from his alternate book or J. Ley or Jim Wolf's guides.

    I liked J. Ley's maps mostly because they had very helpful comments from other hikers regarding water availability and indistinct turns. They were well worth the effort to print them out. I also loved Jim Wolf's guides because of the level of detail. Some of the springs are pretty obscure. I also just love a good guidebook, especially since the maps we were using were often obsolete.

  8. #48

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    I also bought the Wolf CDT guidebooks which helped a lot w/ alternates because Jim often says why he chose the route he did and how it compares to other routes. And, since I went w/ map and compass navigation Wolf's books helped at unsigned junctions.

  9. #49
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    Spirit,
    If you use the Bearcreek maps then the Alternate routes are sometimes many miles away from the official routes and not even on the same page.
    So you need to carry additional larger scale maps(like the BLM 1:100,000 maps) if you want to see escape routes etc.
    I carried the BLM maps for the area that I was in at the time but they are kind of useless for actual trail navigation. At least for me.
    Before the trip I did go over the BLM maps and make current CDT corrections to them to make them more usable. The BLM maps are
    pretty old and haven't been updated recently to make corrections but they do show an older CDT in many cases. Before the trip I bought
    all the New Mexico BLM maps that covered the CDT route. That's quite a collection BTW.
    Larry OldnSlow Swearingen

  10. #50
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    I didn't use the Ley maps because :
    1) I couldn't even read the notes (at 8 1/2 x 11) and didn't feel like buying a large scale printer to use 11 x 17.
    That was before Yogi was making larger versions available.
    2) I had already invested in a gps and felt that the Bearcreek maps were a better match with a GPS.

    OldnSlow

  11. #51

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    Quote Originally Posted by Miner View Post
    Melanie, you sound excited. Kinda like someone recently off the trail who didn't get enough of it.

    I'm currently thi a 2015 NOBO CDT hike starting at Crazy Cook. Though with the recent death of local trail angel Sam Hughes, I'm wondering how starting there will work out. My current thoughts are to stay with the designated route except when an alternate is clearly more scenic and would prefer to avoid paved road hiking as much as possible (feet hate it with the type of trail runners I normally use). But I recognize that things change quickly on the trail so we'll see how it works out.
    This year (and I suppose next) the CDTC ran shuttles to Crazy Cook during the typical thru-hiker seasons, however, I'm not sure of the price. Other prices I heard were quite expensive since it's such a lousy road.

    If you want to start right away testing your route finding abilities, the CDTS Columbus route is a good one.

  12. #52

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    I like the way Yogi categorizes and explains her CDT map choices. I wonder how she navigated two yrs ago when, from what I've heard, she had thrued the AT earlier in the yr and was attempting to thru the CDT into the fall. justmised her eraLevle going SOBO. Did she make it?

  13. #53

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    Bought a one way plane ticket to Phoenix on May 1

    Planning on using 11x17 JLey maps with no GPS

    Ready to drink some cow poo

  14. #54

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    Yo guys. It's been almost 2 years since I finished my thru-hike the AT and I'll be heading down to New Mexico late-April to begin the CDT. Time to hike again!

    I haven't bought maps yet, though I've been browsing the 2013 Ley maps that I downloaded from francistapon.com to get a feel for it.
    I'm still debating whether I want to buy the Bear Creek maps. I will have a GPS to mitigate navigational issues and it sounds like the Bear Creek maps function very well with those, but then again, people seem to use GPS with Ley maps (compass rose, starman tracks)... I'll probably just order the 11x17 Ley maps from Yogi when they're updated and have a GPS for backup. I have the 2013-14 Yogi book, so hopefully there'll be updates for that online if there's a new one.

    Is anybody on Facebook? I deactivated mine a year ago but I keep coming across people referencing the CDT class pages as being a valuable resource, is there much going on there?

    Good to hear that others are planning hikes,

    Patches

  15. #55
    PCT, Sheltowee, Pinhoti, LT , BMT, AT, SHT, CDT, TRT 10-K's Avatar
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    I feel like I should be planning.... But I'm not starting till July and only hiking half the trail so maybe I'll wait a few more months.

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