What's it like to hike the CDT?

I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I highly recommend the following...

Books

Scraping Heaven by Cindy Ross
A gutsy veteran hiker takes on the CDT - with a husband, small children, and llamas.

Where the Waters Divide by Karen Berger
A well-researched account of the hiking and history along the Continental Divide.

The Great Divide by Stephen Pern
A humorous account of the CDT from the perspective of a solo English hiker.

Videos

The Walkumentary by Lawton "Disco" Grinter
The first CDT movie I saw. I watched it at the Saufley's Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce, CA. This well-edited video hooked me on the CDT. Features a hilarious hiker called Maddy (sp?).

Cookie and Paul Walk from Mexico to Canada
A northbound 2008 hike. Beautiful CDT images on a stunning website!

Is now a good time?

The swine flu has Reason a little nervous about our bus ride to New Mexico. I'm little nervous, too.

So far, we've dug up some Purell. I don't want to get sick, but I'm glad for an excuse to use up and get rid of the Purell. Just to be cautious, I think I'll pick up some surgical masks from the drug store. Is that ridiculous? Probably. But it is no more ridiculous than treating every single person who buys a ticket on an airplane as a terrorist.

So is now a good time to sashay over to the Great Divide and gallivant through the mountains for no other purpose than our own gratification?

Sure, why not!

After all, I traveled abroad for two months after 9/11 without so much as a scratch. I hit Springer Mountain bound for Maine just as the US started bombing Baghdad in 2003. Remember how the media broadcast their flak-jacketed press members driving though the Iraqi sand for hours on end? At the time I wondered whether I had some civic duty in light of the impending war. Shouldn't I have been sacrificing, perhaps planting a victory garden or collecting scrap metal for the war effort? Nope. Bush said we should all keep shopping, so buy hiking gear I did. Did it matter a hill of beans whether I was at work or hiking the AT? Nope.

Well into the downslope of the housing bubble, Reason and I quit our very good jobs, packed up our stuff, and headed to California to hike the PCT. My business-savvy boss had been preparing for some sort of economic meltdown for at least half of my employment with him.

My boss was right on the mark. Was it a good time to give up our jobs to go hiking? Is there ever a good time?

We scrimped and saved and lived in crappy apartments crowded with (awesome!) roommates for four years in order to go hiking, so we made the time right for us.

It would be nice not to get swine flu on the way to the CDT, though.

Maildrops and Backup Packages

Our strategy for this hike is to self-supply as regards food. This gives us more flexibility, more independence, and burdens our support crew less. I also hope that postage will be cheaper than it would be if everything were to be mailed from South Carolina to the West.

We should be able to reach a good-sized town every few hundred miles. From such towns we plan to buy food and pack boxes to mail forward to ourselves.

Equipment and maps are another story. I've prepared a few packages of maps and gear to be sent by our wonderful support team.

This is an inventory of those packages. This might be useful to prospective hikers. It is certainly useful for me as a reminder.

New Mexico
We'll have some time in Deming to pack and ship boxes of food and maps forward to Doc Campbell's, Pie Town, and Ghost Ranch.

Southern Colorado
This large priority flat rate box will be sent from home to Chama, NM. It contains:

1 pr CAMP instep crampons for Cruiser
Montbell Thermawrap jacket for Cruiser
extra business cards for Team Creason
backup copies of resupply overview
Yogi pages: Leadville, CO to South Fork/Pagosa Springs, CO
Wolf: Vol 5 Southern Colorado (Copper Mtn, CO to Cumbres Pass, NM)
DeLorme: overview, public lands, 47, 48, 59, 69, San Juans, 77, 78, 88, 89
Trails Illustrated maps 139, 140, 141 for the San Juans
Ley maps: 19-45 (not 44)

Northern Colorado
This large priority envelope will be sent to Leadville, CO. It contains:

Yogi pages: Copper Mtn, CO to Encampment, WY
Wolf: Vol 4 Northern Colorado and supplement (Rawlins, WY to Copper Mtn, CO)
DeLorme: 16, 17, 27, 28, 29, 38, 39; WY 67, 68
Ley maps: 1-18; WY40, 41, 42, 43, 44

Wyoming
The large flat rate priority box will be sent to Encampment, WY. It contains:

1 pr Montrail Hardrock shoes for Cruiser
2 prs new socks for Cruiser
Yogi pages: Yellowstone, WY to Rawlins, WY
Wolf: Vol 3 Wyoming and supplement (Macks Inn, ID/Yellowstone to Rawlins, WY)
DeLorme: overview, public lands, Yellowstone, 10, 20, 19, 21, 31, 32, 44, 45, 46, 47, 56, 57
Ley maps: Mt 72; WY1-39

Montana
This large flat rate priority box will be sent to Old Faithful village, Yellowstone Park, WY. It contains:

1pr Montrail Hardrock shoes for Cruiser
Yogi pages: Northern terminus to Macks Inn, ID
Wolf: Vol 1 Northern Montana (Canada to Rogers Pass, MT); Vol 2 Pt1 Southern Montana (Rogers Pass to Chief Joseph Pass, MT); Vol 2 Pt 2 Southern Montana (Chief Joseph Pass to Macks Inn, ID)
DeLorme: overview, public lands, Glacier Park, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 36, 37, 38, 39, 55, 68, 69, 83, 84
Ley maps: 1-71

Emergency/as needed gear (Maybe I can prevent Reason from ordering new gear if we have backups boxed and ready to go!! Figuring out where to have UPS and FedEx shipments sent on the trail is a huge hassle and waiting for such packages takes forever. It's much easier to use the PO. Scott Williamson personally told us that he attributes his record PCT hikes to good time management. I think he has a point!)

2 ice axes and 1 pr crampons for Reason

1 pr CMI instep crampons

1 pr old eye glasses for Reason

2 Bearvault BV500 bear canisters (it looks like we can avoid having these sent for the 30 mile stretch through Rocky Mountain National Park where they are now required for backcountry camping; we'll day hike the park from Grand Lake or take the Ley red route which avoids the park.) I wouldn't be surprised if Yellowstone and/or Glacier suddenly decide to require canisters.

REI Quarter Dome 2 person tent

assorted extra thermals and hiking skirt for Cruiser

Declination

As is my nature, I've been cramming. I've been reading up on map and compass skills.

The Outward Bound Map & Compass Handbook by Glenn Randall is very helpful. It contains just enough bravado and tales of being lost on snowy plateaus to keep it interesting without being annoying.

Reading along with compass in hand helps tremendously. I'm thick-skulled and literal-minded, so I've reread many of the book's explanations several times. I learn by doing, especially with props; words don't make much of an impression on me. I have taken a map and compass workshop here and there, but it's been a while. My best experience was on a NOLS trip through the Wind River Range in Wyoming in anticipation of my AT hike. Little did I realize that it is nearly impossible to get lost on the AT.

Reason and I had a compass on the PCT. We used it exactly three times. It was most helpful when we came across the icy Tahquitz range south of Idyllwild, CA and lost the trail. It was handy the second time around when we stopped for a break and Reason, perhaps being a bit under the influence, insisted I was headed the wrong way on the trail when we resumed hiking. I don't mind telling you that I enjoyed the compass's confirmation that I knew where I was going. The third time we used it, we came to an intersection of five trails just north of Mt. Hood. The unsigned PCT made a turn at the intersection that sent it south. Three thru-hikers, a German weekender, and a very large and excited Great Dane puppy argued about which way to go until we realized that the compass might solve the dilemma for us.

The CDT presents my first opportunity to get good and lost. With a handful of hikers attempting the trail each year, the path is not well-beaten. Only about 70% of the trail has actually been constructed, and some of that trail is little used and little maintained. I think even W would tell you that clearing brush from a trail is the difference between keeping a trail and losing it.

I read 2008 thru-hikers Cookie and Paul's account of following a cattle path well into the wrong canyon before they realized their mistake. It is a fact that there are more cows on the CDT than there are hikers.

Getting back to my cramming, I sat up and coughed at the OB Map & Compass Handbook's insistence that the declination of a particular area is clearly labeled on maps and that the user need only concern himself with whether to add or subtract the difference.

Declination is the difference in direction between true north and magnetic north. Generally speaking, true north points to the North Pole and magnetic north is the direction the needle on the compass points. Magnetic north varies depending on the Earth's magnetic field at a given location. Magnetic north also apparently changes over time, but I don't know why.

Declination in the United States varies from about 18 degrees west on the West Coast to about 16 degrees east on the East Coast. The problem is that the maps point to true north.

What this amounts to is that if you don't know the difference between true north and magnetic north, you might follow an erroneous compass bearing that will take you miles off course.

More practically, the wonderful Jonathan Ley maps upon which we are dependent don't note the declination. Neither do the Wolf CDTS guides. So what is the declination on the CDT?

I dunno, but I Googled for some declination charts of the US. I found this one and printed it out. It dates to 2004, so I hope the earth's magnetic field hasn't changed too dramatically since then. We'll just have to guess in the field, but it looks like we'll have to adjust for a declination of between about 9 and 16 degrees east. Which means we'll have to add the declination to the compass reading and subtract the declination from the map reading, depending on which reading we start with.

Hmm... I hope I got this right! Reason seems to have a good instinct for this sort of thing, not to mention a calmer disposition. Between the two of us I'm sure we'll make it to Canada one way or another.

Some of you may wonder why we aren't taking a GPS with us. My first answer is that, though I do enjoy the many benefits of technology, I can't wait to get away from the phone, the computer, the radio, the TV and all of those annoying blinking lights and beeps that drive me crazy. (Rant: why can't my stupid cell phone just die when it runs out of juice in the middle of the night instead of waking me up with its annoying chirps??? Why does the stupid wireless thingy need to proudly proclaim its existence with big bright light??? I don't want to hear or see any of it. As far as I am concerned, they can all just die.)

My second answer is that I'm excited about the mental challenge of getting myself from one place to another using a few simple tools and my head. If only I've got the logic of the compass right!!

My third answer is that I don't want to watch my GPS screen all day long following waypoints. I want to be aware of the landscape around me. I'm excited about really learning how the map relates to reality. My father used to study maps of the places he visited to the point that he no longer needed them when he arrived. He'd overhear other tourists wondering about the landscape and he'd proudly straighten them out.

I'm really excited about knowing where I am. Not only do I want to keep myself found, but I want to be more engaged with the place I'm visiting.

I remember images. I have an excellent visual memory which has served me extremely well in the art field. This could be Team Creason's last long distance hike for many years, and I want to know and remember the mountains and streams we will be living in for the next five months.

Update: This wonderful compass tutorial created by Kjetil Kjernsmo is very helpful.

Where are we going?

We're going to Canada!!! Woohoo!

If that seems overly exuberant, just be aware that that's been Team Creason's mantra for many years now. It's become a ritual to ask "Where are we going?" at the beginning and end of runs and workouts. The answer that keeps us on track, "We're going to Canada!"

Now that you know where we're going, I'll provide the points in between Mexico and Canada below. This list is largely self-serving. This will be a back-up in case we need to get to this information again from the trail.

Check out Yogi's CDT Guides for resupply information.

Mexican border

Columbus, NM 88029

Deming, NM 88030

(Silver City, NM 88061)

Mimbres, NM 88049

Doc Campbell's

Pie Town, NM 87827

Grants, NM 87020

Cuba, NM 87013

Ghost Ranch, NM

Cumbres Pass/Chama, NM 87520

Wolf Creek Pass/ Pagosa Springs, CO 81147 or South Fork, CO 81154

**Creede Cut-Off
Creede, CO 81130

Monarch Pass

**San Juan Route
Silverton, CO 81433

Spring Creek Pass
Lake City, CO 81235

Monarch Pass

Monarch Pass
Salida, CO 81201
Monarch Crest Store

Twin Lakes, CO 81251

Tennessee Pass, Leadville, CO 80461

Silverthorne, CO

Grand Lake, CO 80447

Battle Pass/Encampment, WY 82325

Rawlins, WY 82325
on trail

**Great Divide Basin

**Red Desert Route

**Ferris Mtns. Route
3 Forks Muddy Gap, WY

South Pass City, WY 82520
Lander, WY 82520

Big Sandy Lodge

Pinedale, WY 82941

Togwotee Pass
Dubois, WY 82513

Old Faithful Village, Yellowstone, WY 82190

**Henry's Lake Route
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
Lima, MT

**Macks Inn Route
Macks Inn, ID 83433
Lima, MT

Lima, MT 59739

Bannock Pass/Leadore, ID 83464

Chief Joseph Pass
Darby, Sula, Wisdom, MT; North Fork, Salmon, ID

**Butte Route
Butte, MT 59701
Macdonald Pass

**Anaconda Route
Anaconda, MT 59711
MacDonald Pass

Macdonald Pass
Helena, MT 59601

Rogers Pass/Lincoln, MT 59639

Benchmark Ranch/Augusta, MT 59410

East Glacier Park, MT 59434

Many Glacier

**Chief Mountain/Belly River/Canada

**Waterton/Canada

Swine Flu, Drug Smugglers and Coyotes, oh my!

We've decided.

Team Creason is headed to Columbus, New Mexico and will hike north to Canada. The stats on snow levels in Colorado on Postholer.com seem favorable for a northbound hike. Of course, another storm or two could dump a bunch on snow on Colorado between May and mid-June when we reach the 14,000 ft San Juans in Colorado.

We leave at the beginning of May and aim to reach Glacier Park and the Canadian border before the beginning of October.

We've booked tickets on man's least favorite Grey Dog. We hope not to acquire swine flu over the two day duration.

We'll be deposited at Deming, NM, where we'll have just enough time to shop for groceries and pack up a few boxes to mail to points north before catching a shuttle south to Columbus, NM.

Columbus is convenient for a number of reasons. It is 3 miles north of the Mexican border. It is accessible by regional transit bus. And it is smack-dab in the middle of the drug smuggling violence. What more could you ask for?

I checked with a friend who works with the US Marshals Service to ask what she knows about the New Mexico border towns. "Don't go there," was the predominant theme of her reconnaissance.

But hikers and trail angels who chime in on the cdt-l listserve don't have any horror stories. Well, at least the families of hikers caught in crossfire haven't filled us in. Mostly, both hikers and trail angels have been stopped and searched by the Border Patrol.

Fingers crossed, we'll dodge the flu and the bullets and reach Canada by the end of September or beginning of October.

Yogi's CDT Handbook

I first learned about Yogi from my AT friend, Detour.

I did a little trail support for Detour when he set out for the PCT in 2005. Sadly, my best package to Detour missed him and was returned to me weeks later. It was a full of Snickers! Sorry, Detour! However, all of the packages of Detour's maps and pages of his Yogi guide successfully reached him.

Between shipments, I read through some of the maps and Yogi pages, and when the time came for Team Creason to prepare for the PCT, well... we screwed up. Perhaps it was complacence. I had little doubt that we would reach Canada.

Due to lack of organization (proper planning?), Reason ordered our Yogi guide and had it sent to Campo, CA, at the start of the PCT. "Are you sure you want it to go to Campo," asked Yogi.

At that point, we didn't have a choice. At Campo, we opened Yogi's package, put the Yogi Town Guide in our packs and mailed the Yogi PCT planner home. I didn't really read it until reaching the Dinsmore's River Haven in Skykomish, WA - where I also stayed up late into the night reading Yogi's CDT planner!

The interesting thing about Yogi's CDT guide is that even she states in her introduction that it is really just an account of various opinions and what did and didn't work for successful CDT hikers. And it is.

Our Yogi CDT guide arrived in January. I read it right away, and then I had a lot of questions.

I ordered the Wolf CDTS guides, the DeLorme atlases, and requested the Ley map CD. But our first big decision was which way to go and when to start.

What did we decide? Well, we decided to wait and see. This was very hard for me. I like to plan and organize. But I decided that this would be the key to our CDT hike. Not only will our hike be more successful if we chose to go north or south based on the most favorable snow conditions, but every other decision on the trail will be better approached by considering conditions as they present themselves rather than as we have planned.

On the Appalachian Trail, it is pretty difficult to get lost. You just follow the very consistent and prolific white blazes. On the Pacific Crest Trail, it is a little easier to get lost. The PCT features very few blazes and markers and is in fact buried under snow in many places. When you can't find the PCT, you just make it up.

The Continental Divide Trail is rarely blazed. It isn't even complete. There are two northern termini and three southern termini to choose between. There is a high route through the San Juans in Colorado, and there is a lower-elevation cut-off if the San Juans are too snowy or the weather is too threatening. Even the physical Divide splits in two in Wyoming and forms the Great Divide Basin. Do you go east, west, or straight through the basin?

We haven't decided. We'll let you know later.

The Yogi CDT Town Guide is a different story. It will be invaluable for resupplying with food and gear. The information that Yogi has compiled replaces the year of phone calls, letters and research that Karen Berger describes as her CDT preparation in her well-researched book Where the Waters Divide.

I have supplemented the Yogi Town Guide with recommendations and suggestions offered on the cdt-l. At one point, the conversation on the cdt-l changed from GPS way points to the best brewpubs on the CDT! I duly filled the margins.

I asked Reason, while we were brushing our teeth the other night, if he had read the Yogi guide. I'm a little worried that I've misunderstood or overlooked something.

"No, sweetie. I've done all the planning I need to do: I married you!"

Indexing the DeLorme and Ley Maps

After finally printing the Ley CDT maps, I took Yogi's advice and began indexing the Ley maps with the DeLorme Atlas pages. I marked the corresponding Ley map numbers in the margins of the DeLorme pages and vice-versa.

I ordered the DeLorme Atlases for New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Yep, these are the same oversized books of maps that you might keep in your car for road trips. Once I figured out which DeLorme pages I needed from each atlas, I cut them out and discarded the rest. (Actually, I kept the rest in anticipation of more hiking and road-tripping.)

While the Ley maps are detailed topos confined to small areas, the DeLorme maps offer a broader view. After studying the DeLorme maps, I would hazard to say that they offer a very optimistic view of the CDT -- one that is populated by distinct and well-maintained Forest Service roads and hamlets identified in bold letters. Maybe these hamlets have gas stations with ice cream freezers!

Or maybe not. As I followed the Ley maps and traced the Ley routes onto the DeLorme atlas pages with a highlighter, I noticed that the bold-lettered hamlet names on the DeLorme maps didn't always appear on the Ley maps. Nor did many of the Forest Service roads.

What does that mean? Probably not much hope for ice cream, and probably only a slightly higher chance of the Forest Service roads being recognizable.

What it means for sure is that we'll just see when we get there. And if we do come across ice cream, well, I won't turn up my nose!

Cross-referencing the DeLorme and Ley maps took the better part of a very long day and was exciting but exhausting. I feel like I've had a dress rehearsal - though my index hike was sobo (southbound). It was not always easy to align the small area topos with the broader areas on the DeLormes. Fortunately, each Ley map features a compass rose with the latitude and longitude marking the center of the rose. I compared these coordinates with the grids on the DeLormes, and voila!

I'm glad to have both sets of maps. I think the DeLormes will be very handy for hitchhiking to towns and for potential alternate routes in the case of bad weather, etc. If we need to walk around a fire or snow storm, we should be able to find a road on the DeLorme maps.

The Ley maps will help us pinpoint our position and stay on course. One thing I did notice about the Ley maps, however, is that due to their small-area focus, the names of prominent features are often truncated to the point of being illegible or unintelligible. And some features on the DeLorme maps don't seem to appear on the Ley maps - like many of those bold-lettered hamlets with the ice cream freezers.

The Ley maps are also a bit hard to read. This may be a side-affect of the particular printing arrangement that we chose. Regardless, I happen to have a very nifty business card-sized plastic magnifying glass as a token of my art appraisal days. This .25 ounce gizmo will be perfect as long as it doesn't blow away. Many of the elevation numbers would be hard to read without it.

I'm not complaining, however. Jonathan Ley puts much time and effort into producing these free maps which he updates annually. The Ley maps replace scores of heavy maps that could cost hundreds of dollars. Thank you, Jonathan!

There is no official map of the CDT, by the way. The trail is only about 70% complete - the rest is choose-your-own-adventure!

Here is a list of how the DeLorme pages correspond with the Ley maps. You can stop reading now. I just like to make lists and organize things. And I like to have back-ups in case I need to get this info while in a trail town.

DeLorme map page and Ley map cross-reference for 2009

New Mexico

DeLorme (Ley)
overview
public lands

15 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

21 (18, 19, 20)

22 (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 14A, 15, 16, 17, 18)

23 (10)

29 (20, 20A, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)

36 (28, 29, 30, 30A, 31, 32)

37 (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 30A-30-G, 31, 32, 33, 34)

44 (27A, 38A-B, 39, 39A-C)

45 (30G-L, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 37A, 38A, 39; Columbus route 1-8)

46 (Columbus route 4, 5, 6)

52 (39C-F, 40A, 41)

53 (39F, 40, 40A-B, 41, 41A-B; Columbus 8, 10, 11)

54 (Columbus 8, 9, 10)


Colorado

DeLorme (Ley)
overview
public lands

16 (1,2,3)

17 (2,3,4)

27 (5,6,7,8)

28 (8,9,10, 10A, 11)

29 (12)

38 (14, 15, 15A-D, 16, 17, 18)

39 (13, 14)

47 (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)

48 (15C-D, 18, 19)

59 (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)

68 (32, 33)

69 (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)

77 (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)

78 (33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42)

88 (42)

89 (43, 44, 45, 46, NM1)

Wyoming

DeLorme (Ley)
overview
public lands
Yelowstone

10 (1)

20 (2, 3, 4, 5)

21 (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 7A)

31 (10, 10A, 11, 12, 13, 12A-D, 14, 15)

32 (16)

44 (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)

45 (22, 23, 24, 25)

46 (26, 27, 28, 29, 28A, 30)

47 (30, 31)

56 (28A-C)

57 (28C-D, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 37A-B, 38)

67 (37B, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)

68 (CO1)

Montana

DeLorme (Ley)
overview
public lands
Glacier Park

20 (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)

21 (63, 64, 65, 66, 67)

22 (68, 69, 70, 71, 70A-D, 72)

23 (WY1, WY2, WY3, WY4)

24 (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)

36 (46, 47, 48, 49)

37 (46)

38 (31C-E, 40, 41, 42, 43, 42A, 44, 45)

39 (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 31A-C, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)

55 (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)

68 (11, 12, 13, 13A, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17A, 18)

69 (17, 17A, 18)

83 (1, 2, 3)

84 (2A-B, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 10A)

Wolf CDT Guides

Earlier this winter I ordered the Jim Wolf CDT guides from the Continental Divide Trail Society.

For some reason, there are two organizations devoted to protecting and building the CDT. They are the Continental Divide Trail Society and the Continental Trail Divide Alliance. By reputation, the CDTS seems to have the interests of thru-hikers at heart, while the CDTA seems to be focused on corporate partnerships and trail building. As far as I can tell, both organizations are doing loads to protect and complete the CDT. Thanks CDTS and CDTA!

The small CDTS books are designed to be carried by thru-hikers.

By all accounts, the CDTA guide books are very pretty with heavy, glossy pages and lots of pictures. By all accounts, these books are heavy in weight and seem better geared to the day-hiker. I haven't seen the CDTA books, so I can't confirm this but reviews on Amazon echoed these sentiments.

The CDTS guides are written for the southbound hiker, so it will be interesting trying to interpret them for our northbound hike. There are seven volumes in all with at two supplements. The most recently published guides are spiral-bound so that the used pages can easily be discarded and/or the pages are easy to separate for mail drops.

Some accounts I've read mention that the Ley maps are so good that the Wolf CDT guides aren't necessary. I like to be prepared, however, and I think these will come in handy. They don't appear to be as wordy as the PCT guide-tomes. In fact, the trail descriptions seem much like the ATC state guides for the Appalachian Trail. In contrast to the Appalachian Trail, however, I think we will actually get lost - a lot- in which case the descriptions might help us find our way again.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Here is a list of the Wolf CDTS guides and their range. I've included the nearest resupply towns, as this is what I needed to know when I was parceling maps and guidebook pages for our mail drops.

This info is also for me in case I need to use it while in a trail town.

Northern Montana, Vol 1
272.5 mi
Canadian border/Glacier Park to Rogers Pass, MT (for Lincoln, MT)

Southern Montana, Vol 2 part 1
312.4 mi
Rogers Pass, MT (Lincoln, MT) to Chief Joseph Pass, MT (Darby, Sula, North Fork, Wisdom)

Southern Montana, Vol 2 part 2
294.6 mi
Chief Joseph Pass, MT to Macks Inn, ID

Wyoming, Vol 3 and supplement
496.8 mi
Old Faithful to Rawlins, WY

Northern Colorado, Vol 4 and supplement
357.2 mi
Rawlins, WY to Copper Mtn, CO (north of Leadville, CO)

Southern Colorado, Vol 5
413.2 mi
Copper Mtn, CO to Cumbres Pass, CO (Chama, NM)

Northern New Mexico, Vol 6
250 mi
Cumbres Pass, CO (Chama, NM) to Grants, NM

Southern New Mexico, Vol 7
415 mi
Grants, NM to Mexican border

approx 2811.7 mi

~140 days at 20 mi/day
~113 days at 25 mi/day

Clean Eating

Have you become acquainted with Tosca Reno?

I first encountered Tosca when I was wedding dieting. One of my strategies was to buy a fitness magazine instead of an afternoon snack. Thus I discovered Oxygen Magazine, Clean Eating and Tosca Reno.

I like Tosca. She used her head and changed her life into what she wanted. She made her body into what she wanted, and she looks great. Her advice is no-nonsense and easy to adapt.

In a nutshell, she suggests a low-fat, low-sugar diet of whole foods including lots of whole grains and lean proteins from animal and veggie sources.

I love to exercise and I love to eat, but sometimes I'm lopsided and lumpy. One of the best things about long distance hiking is that a hiker needs to eat a lot. Much of that food is junk, junk food being dense with calories.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail was one of the most liberating experiences of my life as a woman: I could eat whatever I wanted and I just kept getting skinnier and more muscular. But best of all, I had no reason to feel guilty about scarfing down pints of ice cream and halves of pizzas. I needed the calories and I burned them in spades. For the first time in my life I could eat freely, openly and without remorse.

I was the trimmest I've ever been upon the completion of the AT. I loved being skinny, and I wanted to stay that way. Problem was, I was voracious. Though I was no longer burning thousands of calories a day, my appetite hadn't gotten the memo. Immediately, I joined Weight Watchers to try and maintain my weight.

The other problem was, I'd been conditioned since birth to eat dessert every night. Mmm, dessert! But Weight Watchers was great. These were my people! Every week someone had a story about brownie lust and whether or not they were seduced. I can relate to this, I thought. But the Points system was tedious, and it seemed like the regulars at the Monday night meeting weren't getting any smaller. And why, at 125 lbs, did they actually take me?

I decided to seek something more scientific and less trademarked. I turned to the nutritionist at my gym. Her approach was certainly more scientific. It required very specific portions of macro-nutrients and a tracking system that had me calculating how many calories in a spoonful of chocolate pudding came from fat, carbs, and protein. Way too tedious, and way too many fractions.

And not enough emotion. I needed someone who understood the call of the donut, and I wasn't sure that this nutritionist had actually ever been overweight. Truthfully, my head wasn't in the game.

I did love the personal trainer. She was impressed with my hiking legs and my trekking pole arms and shoulders. I liked her workouts. I liked being so fit that I could run my hometown jogging route faster and more easily than ever before. I loved doing back-to-back aerobics classes without getting tired.

Problem was, that kind of fitness is hard to maintain without exercising all day long. All of a sudden I was in frozen New England with a job, an annoying commute, and an increasingly uncomfortable lumpiness.

With my wedding date looming, I knew I had to do something. I had gained two sizes and felt awful. I signed up for the Self Challenge, read Skinny Bitch cover to cover, enlisted myself and friends in a Massachusetts public health program that encouraged exercise, signed up for a half marathon, and discovered Clean Eating. Suddenly I realized that it's just a head game. I knew I could walk 2,000 miles, and that that was just a mental problem. Why not apply the same strategy to the wedding diet?

My self-coaching changed from "How do you think you're going to get to Katahdin if you can't finish this run!?!?" to "Do you want to look like a brownie-butt, or do you want to look like some nice lean celery sticks with a couple of well-placed cherry tomatoes!??!"

Which is more or less what Tosca says. If you eat lumpy foods, you'll be lumpy.

This winter I read the Eat Clean workout guide, the Eat Clean Diet book, and I've been cooking up some great eats from the Eat Clean cookbook. Well, the buckwheat groats weren't too popular, even with my college co-op living and cooking, whole foods loving husband, but I liked them. You win some, you lose some.

I've built some killer arms and shoulders in the gym in the last few months. I ran a 10K at a pace faster than I've ever run before. My legs are strong and my waist is nice and trim. I feel great!

I'm not gonna lie - I've eaten a little more butter recently in anticipation of starting our hike. But I'm carrying less fat and less weight as a result of eating clean and exercising hard, all of which will make my hike easier.

I'm excited about eating clean again after the trail, and I'll certainly pick up where I left off with pumping iron. And I've marked my calendar for the sign-up date for a half-marathon in February! Watch out, Tosca!

Squats 'n Stairs

Training to hike 20-plus miles a day for five or six months is a difficult thing to do, particularly when you don't have hours and hours each day to exercise.

Before the AT and PCT, I tried to train in some way for at least two hours a day in the weeks leading up to the hike.

Running is great, both for endurance and for overall fitness, and also for trimming excess fat. Reason and I ran a half-marathon just a few weeks before the PCT. This April we ran a 10K.

This time around, though, I've come to the conclusion that squats and stairs are where it's at.

I've always known that squats are good for me, just like I know that veggies are better for me than cookies. But squats are hard, and I've avoided them.

I came around on the PCT. The PCT is not a difficult trail. It's nothing like the AT with its constant grinds up and down mountains. I didn't develop the musculature on the PCT that I'd hoped, so I started adding squats to my day. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that squats are a great way to strengthen - and tighten - the major muscles of the lower body. Which is to say, squats seem like the perfect way to get strong, lean legs and a strong and lean rear end.

Further, squats seem like a great answer to a problem I've long wanted to solve: how do you train to go downhill? I once asked a personal trainer why there aren't any gym machines that provide a downhill scenario. "Going downhill is bad for your legs," she said. But we go down stairs, if we go up mountains we come down. Personally, I find hiking down mountains much harder than hiking up. Sure, gaining elevation taxes the lungs and the heart, but losing elevation punishes the knees.

Ross Enamait suggests one-legged squats in his excellent Underground Guide to Warrior Fitness. Reason is quite good at these. Then again, Reason will climb anything you dare him to. I've been sticking to the two-legged version, and I think it makes a big difference. I need to woman up and try the one-leggers. They seem like the perfect training exercise for the steep descents of the Appalachian Trail.

In addition to squats, I've been training on stairs. I have access to a great exterior double staircase. Two sets of stairs lead up to a landing and entryway from either side, making a perfect circuit. I take one set up and the second set down. I've worked up to taking this circuit for 45 minutes while wearing a 20 lb weight vest. I started with a duration of 10 minutes and worked up from there. I suspect that this kind of exercise is great for conditioning the tendons and ligaments which are otherwise vulnerable to the sudden demands of thru-hiking.

I must also add that stairs are a great way to develop the glorious gluteus medius. I never knew I had these muscles until I hiked the AT. After a few hundred miles on the trail, I rested my arms akimbo and was stunned at the rock-hard formations atop my gluteus maximus. This perky pair of muscles seems to be my personal hiking powerhouse. They are quick to develop on the trail and sadly quick to deflate once off the trail. They seem to respond to stair circuits, though, so I'm going with it!

Did I mention that I love the sheer physicality of working out? I love hiking hard for months at a time. I love having a strong, fit body.

I'm neither a doctor nor a trainer. Check with your doctor or trainer before attempting these exercises.

CDT: Printing the Ley Maps

I finally completed the printing of the Jonathan Ley 2009 CDT maps. It was easier than I thought.

I ordered the 2009 CD from Jonathan earlier this spring. It promptly arrived, and I promptly sent a donation in return. Thanks, Jonathan Ley!

After reading through Jonathan's instructions and recommendations, as well as insight from the Yogi Guide and the CDT-L, this is what Reason and I decided to do...

Printer: Rather than buying yet another printer that will eventually end up in a landfill, we decided to borrow a relative's HP Officejet J4550 All-in-One.

This printer is on the slow side and does not play well with the iMac. The printer doesn't come with a user manual. After much searching on the HP site, I finally found a 180 page manual to download. It is a nice paperless manual with interactive features, but no trouble-shooting chart. The manual's instructions for Mac OSX don't correspond to reality. I have yet to figure out how to check the printer's ink levels. Nor could my tech-savvy software engineer husband.

At one point, the printer displayed the cryptic message "Print Cartridge Problem: (Tri Color) Refer to Device Documentation." I searched the 180 page user manual to no avail. A Google search yielded frustrating dead-end scenarios, one of which remained unanswered on the HP site. (Amusingly, in the course of researching this problem I came across accounts of this printer switching languages from English to Japanese and Korean and leaving its users perplexed. Hee hee!) Fearing throwing $30 down the drain, off I headed to the store for a replacement cartridge. Lo and behold, this solved the problem! The printer has since more cogently informed me that the tri-color cartridge is running low. Why did it have to be so vague the first time around?

This printer also has a tendency to crimp one corner of each page, depositing a smudge of ink in the process. This happens to almost every page. Occasionally, the paper also jams and has to be wrestled from the printer's grip.

Ink: The HP J4550 uses HP 901 black and tri-color cartridges. I think they are ridiculously expensive. Rumor has it that they are programmed to expire at a certain time regardless of how much ink they contain. I used up the tri-color cartridge that came with the printer, which did not last very long at all. I nearly used up a second tri-color cartridge and the first black cartridge. The ink costs more than the printer itself, which had been purchased on special for about $30.

Format: My logical and scientific Reason tried printing from a variety of formats. These included iMac/preview, Mac Book/preview, Mac Book/non-preview, Mac Book/wireless connection to printer, Mac Book/direct connection to printer, and various iterations of print qualities including normal, best, and photo settings. As I recall, the photo settings resulted in shadows under some of the black text. Reason finally determined that iMac/preview/normal quality delivered the best results. This determination was based on the clarity of the tiny elevation numbers.

Paper: We purchased one pack of 8.5 x 11" HP matte Presentation Paper for inkjets. The pack contains 150 pages, which was just enough. We found the paper in the photo printing section of Staples.

Pagination: We decided to print on both sides of the paper, but in such a way that we could view sequential maps side by side. This meant we printed #1 back to back with #3, and #2 back to back with #4. The drawback to this method is that it takes a bit of thought and attention. It would be easier to print all the evens, then print all the odds.

Other: I did notice that some Colorado maps tended to rotate such that they were diminished in size on the paper. I'm not sure whether this is because I made a mistake or because the formats of these maps were different. Once I realized the problem, I made sure to pay attention to the preview orientation.

Weather proofing: I'm going to look for extra-large zip-locks.