Joining others for a section of the CDT – nuts?

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Some friends are thru-hiking the CDT and they invited me to come hike with them but I can only do a section. The logistics of this seems impossible.

I'm wondering if there are any locations on the CDT where there are towns close enough together that I can hike with my friends for a week or so and have easy public transportation back to my starting point. Is there a section of the CDT that's kind of like the JMT with a parallel highway and lots of transportation/easy hitching between towns?

[Luke Schmidt]

Check out PMags.com guide to the Colorado Trail (since it parallels the CDT in several places). He lists a lot of public transportation options along the trail. I don't know of anything specific but you might find something. I think there are bus routes to the Breckenridge areas. A section from the RMNP area to Breckenridge might be doable. If you could get from Denver to the park you could hike to Breckenridge and take their bus system back to Denver. The San Juan Mtns are prettier though so I'd see if you can work something out there.

[Paul Magnanti]

Another vote for Colorado…with some caveats.

It is the highest consistent portion of the trail so you'll want to acclimate a day or two if you can.

Are your friends going NoBo or SoBo?

Also, approx how many miles do you plan on doing in this week?

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Thanks guys. They are going NOBO.

I'm not really fussy about whether the part of trail I do is the best part.

There is a mushroom festival in Telluride in mid-August. Since one of the guys is a mushroom expert and I'm a novice, it might be nice to do this in August if they are near the Telluride area, not so much to go to the festival but to find the mushrooms while we hike.

But all dreaming aside, honestly, the whole transportation issue is the biggest hurdle and if I have to hike in the desert in order to be able to get from wherever I end up back to wherever I started, I'll do it.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Oh, mileage, I'm not sure. Whatever they do is fine with me. I'm a PCT veteran and was able to do 25-30 continuously. Nowadays when I section hike on the PCT, those 25+ days are a tad painful but I can do them and still feel okay the next morning. I am aware of the chance of slowing them down some and they are also aware of this. They said they actually want excuses to go a little slower as they know how milage driven thru-hiking can make a person.

I hope to be able to have enough days in front and back of the hiking time to not make timing/scheduling too tight. I'm hoping to take 2 full weeks off work (14 days) and spend a week or so of that hiking (5-7 days).

[Paul Magnanti]

Going NoBo, they'll probably be in CO around the Breck area roughly mid-June IIRC.

Depending on the snow year, there could be a LOT of snow still (though, this year is looking to be lighter so far in that area).

If you absolutely want to join them in early August or so, they'll be more around Yellowstone.

So, I guess the next question is, when do yo want to join them? :)

Pagosa Sprgs, CO to Rawlins, WY is probably the easiest stretch in terms of logistics but may not work for your timing.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Well, if Pagosa Springs to Rawlins is pretty easy logistically, I could just pick my date based on when it seems they'll be there and hope for the best.

I don't want to hike Yellowstone. Too much paperwork. June's a little early, so yeah, no Telluride mushroom festival. :)

Thanks for your help. I really have no idea of the timing of when people will be where when they go NOBO. Most of the journals and videos I've seen people go SOBO.

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