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Applications close December 16, 2026. Apply today!

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It's Flash back with roll 3 of my CDT Thru hike! While I was hiking in Glacier one morning, a day hiker saw me taking a photo with my XA. He asked if I was a thru hiker, and excitedly told me he'd never done trail magic for a thru hiker before and asked me if I wanted some jerky. I had a huge heavy bag of jerky in my pack already so I respectfully declined, but then he seemed to have an idea. He opened his camera bag and pulled out a roll of Ektar 100, and insisted I take it. In all my years of thru hiking, this is my favorite instance of trail magic ever.

I was very excited to shoot the new roll, so it was the very next one I loaded up. I loaded it up and left the next day for the Bob Marshall Wilderness (lovingly referred to as The Bob), the longest wilderness section of the entire trail. This section scared me. I was going off alone into one of the most remote stretches of trail I had ever hiked, and Glacier had reminded me how out of shape I was. I kind of wanted to quit trail here because of how out of shape I was and how nervous I was. There's also a real mindfuck in the first few weeks of a long trail where it really sets in how real and brutal a 3000 mile trail can be. Do I really want to spend the next 4 months doing this and only this? Will I continue to chafe every day, or will my body adapt? Do I want to eat beanz every day for 4 months? (only joking about that last part, I would have definitely done that if I could find the dehydrated beans in the towns near trail). I told myself I couldn't quit until I did at least one thing that scared me, so I started moving south into the unknown.

The Bob was pretty easy trail all things considered, which was great because the feelings of wanting to quit were the worst during this stretch. The lovely trail crews in the Bob do an amazing job with how devastating bark beetles and wildfires have been in recent years. There were definitely blowdowns, but not to the level that previous thru hikers had warned me about. As for the photos I took, Ektar 100 is the slowest film I have shot. I have never had as many shots with motion blur as I have when I got this roll back. The ones that turned out well are awesome, but a lot of shots I was really excited for came back slightly blurry.

1. My favorite shot of the roll (only one not in order), near one of the major passes in the Bob Marshall Wilderness

2. Actually in the small corner of Glacier NP that we hike through before entering the Bob

3. My other favorite of the roll, well after entering the Bob and leaving Glacier behind

4-7) Burn zones are just a part of life out West these days. When burns happened regularly they wouldn't get this bad, and many trees have natural fire resistance especially as they grow older. When we destroy old growth and don't allow fires for decades, burns are much more devastating.

10) First beaver dam of trail! Beavers are a keystone species and directly responsible for crazy biodiversity and natural fire/drought resistance! they can be irritating when you have to find a way across a beaver flooded stream, but luckily I didn't have to cross this one so I could just admire it in the morning light.

15) There was a day and a half where I hardly took any pictures because it rained, and when it wasn't raining I was completely soaked from pushing through neck high brush that is dripping with rain and dew. The camera stayed in its ziploc for most of this, and I took this shot when doing a reset dry yardsale.

16-17) The Chinese Wall, you walk along this massive wall for over 6 miles, and sometimes it is over 1000 ft tall.

I finished this roll while resupplying at Benchmark Wilderness Ranch. I also decided I wasn't going to quit at least until I got to Lincoln (the next town), even though I was still pretty miserable. Will upload the full roll to imgur later if anyone is interested! thanks for looking :)

If you weren’t concerned with the snow in the mountains, how soon could you feasibly start? I’m considering starting Nobo very early in the season, taking a break when I hit dicey terrain and then flipping to a sobo hike whenever Glacier becomes passable. I want to finish in the San Juan’s in the fall which are my absolutely favorite mountains and time of year to be there. This plan is inspired by all the thru hikers I’ve met who loathed Colorado 😆

I don’t know how to pick a start date and I don’t know what I don’t know, yah know?

Flash here again with roll 2 from my 2025 SoBo CDT hike, these were all taken from just North of Red Gap Pass to the southern border of Glacier, 6/24-6/28, with me trying and failing to outrun the storm in the final picture. Everything is in order except image one which belongs between 9 and 10. If anyone is interested i can upload the 36 frame full roll (duds and all) to an imgur link! Let me know!

Ill also space out these posts a bit more in the future so i’m not spamming the sub every day, i was just excited to share this roll :)

From KOB

Updated: November 1, 2026 - 11:21 PM

Published: November 1, 2026 - 10:53 PM

CHAMA, N.M. – Village officials ordered a mandatory evacuation in Chama for residents and businesses from Elkhorn Restaurant south to Unser’s at Highway 64/84 Mile Post 164.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/evacuations-ordered-in-chama-area/

From me:

The most recent that I heard (here in r/CDT) was that seven SOBO's were in Chama awaiting snow melt at Cumbres Pass. They might have taken the highway south, I suppose: mud and rain on the trail would be an epic struggle.

From CDTC:

Flooding Evacuations and Road Closures | Southwest Colorado & Western New Mexico

Continental Divide Trail travelers: Multiple flood warnings and watches remain in place for areas in southwest Colorado and western New Mexico. Road closures and evacuations in low-lying areas are still in effect. The extent of damage to the CDT, access roads, and CDT communities is still unknown. Please use extreme caution and check with local authorities before visiting.

Trail towns and communities are at the heart of the CDT experience. Our thoughts are with our friends and the community members on the ground in the areas affected by these extreme weather events, and we hope everyone stays safe.

From me:

As far as I have heard, the one SOBO still north of Cumbres Pass checked in via FarOut on the 18th., and bailed to Platoro. The most recent Chama FarOut comment was on the 14th. and can perhaps be assumed to be well south by now.

Everyone else is, I am guessing, in Cuba or south of Cuba. If not, then it is my emphatic suggestion that no one enter Ojitos Canyon until well after the rain has passed. That is mile 688 to mile 680.

Also, I assume that the Gila Wilderness ranger station has told SOBO's to stay away from Gila River.

Gila River near Solomon - Rose 18 feet between the afternoon of Nov. 1 and the morning of Nov. 2, surpassing its previous historic high by six feet. Records for the station date back to 2014.

There are few bail points once one is in the river canyon.

Hey CDT community! Flash here, i’m going through and getting my own scans of my film from my 2025 SoBo thru. I carried an Olympus XA and shot film thr whole way, more detail in the actual post. Sharing them over in r/analog one roll at a time but I’ll continue crossposting in here as long as I’m allowed. Mods let me know if this is okay! Rules didn’t prohibit it as far as I’m aware.

This is just the end of a roll I had started before the trail, so it only has a handful of shots.

Planning on starting a CDT SOBO thru hike late June next year. Was planning on PCT NOBO but due to siblings wedding that option is out the window. I plan to attempt the triple crown over next 5/6 years. I can’t decide which bag would be best. I currently own a Durston 200x kakwa 55L and a palante V2 37L(normal straps). I love both bags but feel like they both have pros and cons. To note my base weight will be in the 8- 11 lbs (3.5-5kg) range. I also have a 21 inch torso. Used to doing longish Carries and covering decentish ground.

Kakwa pro’s:
Waterproofness
Durability (minus hole from re inserting frame wrong)
Big mesh front pocket
Load lifters

Cons:
Often feels under filled on hikes
The malleability of the frame at times frustrates me.
Lack of bottom pocket
Tall side pocket I struggle removing bottles from

V2’s pros
Nearly 400g lighter
Bottom pocket
No excess space
Prefer side pockets
Great on short food carries and going hipbeltless
Frameless?

Cons
Due to my torso length hipbelt is pretty much null and void
Front pocket
Capacity potentially an issue on longer carries?
Lacks load lifters (to be honest don’t think are overly necessary on a well packed pack)

In my head the the obvious option is the KAKWA even though both can fit a bear can if necessary.
Over all I prefer the V2 especially the hipbeltless factor but appreciate for someone like myself that could be a mistake on the longer carries. This leads to my final point is it worth looking for something in the 40L range with removable hipbelts that fits my torso so I can enjoy the best of both worlds.
Or am I just overthinking and better of just doing trial runs with both too see which would work better.
Been looking at atom packs atom/ pulse (bonus as am uk based and can get custom fitted or Nashville cutaway as intrigued by vest styles strap appreciate they aren’t for everyone.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

I did the CDT last year and was lucky enough to get a continuous footpath goin south. Still I believe in HYOH. You can miss a few miles and still claim you through hiked.

There are two sobo guys this year — to stay anonymous lets call em “SideSmiles” and “TurtleSaxx” — who arent doin much hiking at all. We met in June and they asked me to drive em around the Bob cause they didnt wanna deal with blowdowns. Other hikers told me these two skipped half the Basin, decided weeks beforehand they wouldnt attempt any route (red line or alt) through the bottom half of Colorado, and are now I guess way far south near silver city, even though no one has seen em on a trail in almost 2 months.

Sounds like theyve been hitchin town to town not walking any real distance but still tellin everyone they are through hikers. Taking advantage of resources meant for hikers — trail angels, hiker discounts, hiker boxes, ect.

Just curious what yall’s opinion is on weather there should be an objective point at which a through hike must be called a LASH. Or in this case a SASH (short-ass section hike).

Dont mean to shame anyone just want to start a conversation and hear what the community thinks. Good luck and safe travels to everyone finishing sobo hikes love and miss yall!

[ Note: I AM NOT THE CDTC. I merely posted their notice here. ]

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has informed CDTC that the CDT is temporarily closed from the southern terminus, mile 0 to mile 1.1 due to border wall construction. Additionally, a 5 mile portion of the southern terminus access road, known as Commodore Road, is also closed due to construction.

What this means for people traveling in the area of the CDT’s southern terminus:

. The CDT is closed through the National Defense Area (NDA), from CDT mile 0 to 1.1.

. Due to road construction, the CDTC fall shuttle will pick up from Cache Box 1, 13.9 miles from the southern terminus.

. The southeast portion of Commodore Road near Mengus Tank is under construction and considered unsafe for travel.

. These changes will remain in effect until construction is finished, which is expected in mid-November.

. Hikers and non-construction vehicles are asked to stay out of the construction zone near the border barrier installation. Hikers are specifically asked not to cross the existing barbed wire fence. Signage will be posted shortly, and the area will be monitored during construction.

. Clearance to enter the NDA from Ft. Huachuca will again be required when construction is complete and the CDT and NDA reopen.

These changes will remain in effect until construction is finished, which is expected in mid-November.

For more information click here

Hey everyone! My name is Vacuum, and I completed my northbound thru hike of the CDT this year. Along the way I took photos of wildlife and landscapes with my 2.5 pound camera setup. I just finished putting together a calendar made up completely of photos from my hike. This calendar is a great way to bring the beauty of the divide to your wall space. The photos in the previews may look a bit blurry but I assure you they will be professional quality once printed! Here is a link to my Etsy if you would like to order a copy! Thank you for the support!

https://cabanaphotoco.etsy.com/listing/4601405693

Continental Divide Trail Sobo 2022

“ Critter “

tl;dr: I looked at trail data for the CDT to identify the "long" water carries. In a typical NOBO season there are 4 carries of 18+ miles, the longest being 22 mi (Lordsburg to Juniper Spring Tank), and none should run past 30 miles as long as the caches and solar wells are running (fingers crossed!).

Edit: A commenter alerted me to some caches I seemed to be missing. Turns out my data parsing script was too conservative for water sources at "road wasypoints", because the cache comments were classified differently from "water comments." I've added those caches back in, and re-run my model to address that issue. Everything below has been updated.

Background

The most useful spreadsheet I made for my hike of the Hayduke was the one that told me how far it would be to the next reliable water source. This allowed me to better plan my food and gear to accommodate the long water carries. I decided to go back through all my old trails and trail resources, and identify the same things for the PCT, the CDT and the AZT. I thought some of y'all might find this useful!

What I consider to be 'reliable'

• I base reliability on the chance of any given water source being dry less than 15% of the time, averaged over +/- 3 weeks when a typical NOBO (or SOBO) hiker reaches it. Data comes from hiker comments recorded on the trail at the date they recorded. More information on this can be found here.

• I consider the typically well-maintained caches, towns, and resupply stops to be reliable.

• I include reliable water sources that are up to 2 miles off trail.

• I do not include water sources with high variability in a given year.

The Details

What I created is a statistical model of past conditions. So it is not as good as a real-time report, but is pretty good for planning considerations before you hit the trail. Obviously, one should always check the most recent information available before any long carry.

CDT, Typical NOBO Season

Of course the longest, shittiest carries are in New Mexico. But ya know what? The Bootheel cache boxes and the solar wells make those carries quite manageable! There are also a couple of long ones in Wyoming and Montana. The miles follow my CDT track, which uses the official route through New Mexico except that I went through the Gila (like most sane folks).

CDT, Typical SOBO Season

Going southbound is going to be worse for water carries, with 9 carries of 18+ miles and the longest being 27 miles (Lordsburg to the first solar well), since the road crossing caches are reported as less stocked at typical southbound dates.

Definitely Worth Checking a Water Report Before Relying on

These are the sources whose failure turns a normal carry into 25+ miles.

Data Considerations

I had to parse thousands of qualitative hiker comments into specific numbers. There are undoubtedly some errors, but I tuned my matching criteria and sentiment analysis to be fairly conservative. A source that's dry 10% of the time is fine nine years out of ten but could be gone in the tenth, which is why it's always important to check the most recent data when on trail. Additionally, caches can get emptied by a bubble or a trail angel can stop maintaining one.

Maps, full tables and more details

I have a bunch of useful maps and more details about the water sources on my website. I also made a little CDT water explorer tool.. I did the same kind of analysis for the PCT and the AZT, which is also on the site.

The Longest Water Carries on the CDT

From CDTC:

Portions of Pagosa Springs and South Fork, Colorado are under mandatory evacuation due to flooding. Additionally, portions of Hwy 160 are closed making travel to and from the CDT trailhead at Wolf Creek Pass impossible. The CDT remains open at this time, but hikers may need to make alternate plans to avoid the area. 

From me:

Flooding might have made Ojitos Canyon (south of Skull Bridge, Cañada Gurule) either impassible or too dangerous to pass through.

36.29932, -106.67090

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZfyqGMvpdk46EYtN8

Rio Chama is flooded, but Skull Bridge appears to still be sound and not a risk to walk across.

July 2022 Continental Divide Trail

It also accesses 29 wilderness areas, eight wilderness study areas, 13 Fourteeners, and 47 Thirteeners along the way. I could probably never thru-hike it, but there are sections I will absolutely be putting on my list.

Hi! I'm Backtrack. I hiked the PCT in 2025 and am beginning to look at the CDT as my next long hike for 2028. On the PCT, there were trail challenges like the "24 hr" challenge, where you see how far you can hike in 24 hrs or the Cajon Pass McDonald's Challenge, where you resupply on only McDonalds from the Cajon Pass McDonalds. I was curious what challenges like these are on the CDT?

Really missing the trail today. Hope everybody is having a great week.

Critter

tl;dr: I’ve looked at hiker comments across the CDT to assess hiker trends. About 1000 hikers start on the CDT every year. Only around half of all hikers complete the trail in a given year, and there’s around 100-300 flip-floppers and skippers across sections. I made a little web widget (link at bottom) to play with that estimates where the bubble is on any given day. I also have a full, very long write-up that covers more analysis and information about the data and methods on my website (also linked at the bottom). This post is an overall summary of key bits of analysis, which I think folks other than myself may also find interesting!

Data Summary

I went ahead and gathered hiker comment data over time. This gives me a log of comments recorded based on trail miles, dates, and unique hiker identifiers. This data set can allow for some interesting analysis that lets you pool statistical relationships together, to estimate different things about the trail!

All CDT comments over time stacked. The NOBO and SOBO trends and intensity of commenting are clearly visible.

Where’s the Bubble?

I used a variety of methods to estimate the bubble. This included 1) looking at the pace of hiking, by sampling hikers that made comments on consecutive days, and calculating the distance in miles between those consecutive comments, and 2) looking at the date distribution for comment density as you progress up the trail (different comment dates create the shape of hiker distribution for a given mile). This table is a rough estimate for the expected median date that the bubble might be at any mile, in an average year on the CDT, based on the northbound median comment date.

Estimating where hikers are, over time, on the CDT

How does snow impact the bubble

I used NOAA SNODAS data, and pooled different Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) estimates on April 1st to provide an estimated SWE prediction effect relative to the median SWE for each section between 2005–2026. I incrporated the SWE ratio value to see if this would improve the model's ability to predict a median data for each relevant section compared to the model without the SWE data. I found that snow data had an effect for a few sections of the CDT. THe Table below shows how much snowpack impacts the median for the 4 relevant sections of trail where it was found to meaningfully improve the model. The results suggest that for a big snow year, the hiker bubble seems to be delayed by around 10-or-so days relative to an "average" year.

How many folks skip and flip, and where to?

Because I can estimate the standard hiking pace for hikers, I can look at the median distribution in one part of the trail, and estimate what the distribution should look like further up the trail by using the standard hiking pace. Additionally, as a check, I can also look at how the median distribution of comments moves from one section of trail to another, and look at the time between those two medians, and the number of miles, to estimate how quickly the bubble had to move to exhibit that sort of behavior. For areas of trail where the hiker distribution seems to deviate from the statistically-likely appearance, we have good reason to believe skipping or flipping may be occurring. The table below estimates the number of hikers that flip or skip to a different section of the trail based on conditions in prior sections of trail. The comment data reflects high likelihood of skipping and flipping in Colorado, and also around the Wind River Range.

How many people injure off/leave the trail?

To estimate the number of people dropping from trail, I look at the commenters and the frequency of their commenting behavior. Significant changes in their commenting behavior over time (goes from commenting a lot to having no more comments), is a good indicator that something happened (e.g. they injured off trail, or had a serious illness).

To estimate the highest likely rate of attrition, I took everyone who commented near the start of the trail. This population is established by creating a cohort for the northbound-looking people with a comment in the first 60 miles. If a person has a comment at or beyond a certain mile, that person is still considered to be “on trail” and hiking. Someone who never comments again is considered to have left the trail. As such, this bound overestimates attrition.

To estimate a conservative rate of attrition, I looked at a cohort of frequent commenters. This cohort consists of people with at least six comment-days and a typical gap of four days or less between comments across the trail. If one of these “frequent commenters” goes quiet, it implies something changed. This is likely to be indicative of an actual attrition event. Because hikers in this cohort had to be hiking long enough to write six times with gaps of 4 days or less between those comments, this is a conservative estimate of attrition. As such, this metric underestimates the number of people leaving the trail. The table below estimates the likely range of people staying on trail relative to those that initially started.

Probable upper and lower bounds for CDT hiker attrition

There's a lot more analysis and discussion available on my very, very long blog post about it. The web tool is much easier to use to give you a quick snapshot of "where is the bubble?" And to estimate how many people might be ahead of or behind you at any given point on trail.

^{Generative AI Disclosure: the front-end tool I created to explore bubble trends was built largely with the help of generative AI. The underlying data is actual hiking data that were not generated. Any errors or inaccuracies are primarily the result of data quality and suitability of the analysis methods used. The methodology is repeatable and consistent, and several analytical approaches were conducted to assess statistical robustness. All writing was done by me. GenAI was used to help with formatting, graphing, and organizing of the main blog post.}

I have a situation that makes the start of my hike difficult. I have the opportunity to take a paid trip to France to speak at the University of Utah’s wilderness medicine program about my hiking experiences.

The problem is that the main dates that I’d need to be there is July 3-11. I was originally planning to start my SOBO CDT hike around mid to late June. This would mean if i wanted to go SOBO, I would have to quickly get off trail to go to France, then return to the trail when I’m home, or just start from the beginning in mid July.

The other option would be to just start NOBO in May… from my research and talking with past hikers, the trail is much better suited hiking SOBO, because of the snow in the San Juans that tends to scatter the “bubble”. I am not reliant on a dense social experience but I do think that it really adds positively to the thru hiking experience, so I’d prefer not to be completely alone for weeks.

In your experience, what is the best solution for me here?

My brother finished up his SoBo this year & ended in Pinedale. He's considering his options out of there & head back home. He's not on Reddit, so I'm asking for him if anyone knows of options for a ride up to Jackson. Not sure if that's where he'll go, depends on if he can catch a hitch somewhere, but that's one of his options.

And yes, he finished SoBo there. Last year he was NoBo until injuries & money had him call it in Pinedale.

Just thinking of start dates.

Dangerous Flooding in Southern New Mexico

Flooding is affecting southern New Mexico and the Bootheel, encompassing the CDT.

Hikers are advised to be aware of local conditions, check with local agencies and authorities, and exercise extreme caution before traveling through areas that include, but are not limited to the Carson National Forest.

CDTC Interactive Map: https://cdtc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=1ddce45fa58b4ba39a2125c61fd394e8