Hikers have a number of Super Bowls. Most of us who spend time on trails are aware of the long paths referred to as thru-hikes. The term refers to multi-day, usually multi-month hikes that follow defined designated trails in various sections of the country. There are three primary north to south thru-hikes in the United States. Known as the Triple Crown, they include the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail.

The first conceived and most famous of these is the Appalachian Trail, or AT. The trail was proposed in 1921 as part of a growing trend in conservation by foresters. Completed in 1937, hiking was just a part of a series of wilderness education camps for city dwellers. Soon enough, completing the entire trail became a challenge. The first thru hike was accomplished in 1936, before the trail was officially finished by a group of Boy Scouts and their guides. In the ensuing decades the AT steadily gained in popularity. Currently, thousands of hikers have walked the entire AT, either in sections or as a continuous thru-hike.

The southern terminus of the AT is at Springer Mountain, Georgia and the northern terminus is 2200 miles away at Mount Katahdin, Maine. The trail passes through fourteen states, eight National Forests and two National Parks—Smoky Mountains NP and Shenandoah NP. In addition to long distance hikers, there is much local traffic on sections of the AT. Each year several thousand people attempt to do the entire trail as a thru-hike. The success rate for thru-hikers is around twenty-five percent.

The AT is steep, rocky, and humid. Some hikers refer to it as the “green tunnel” because it is so forested. It has many camping shelters, easy access to towns for resupply, and is very populated. The trail is well marked and relatively easy to follow. The AT has been in business for close to one hundred years.

Inspired by the AT, people on the west coast organized and began putting together a trail that would eventually reach from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. The Pacific Crest Trail, or PCT, was planned and hiked during the 1930s. More than 2000 miles were mapped. In 1968 both the AT and the PCT were organized into the National Trails System. The PCT trail passes through California, Oregon, and Washington, and is 2650 miles long. It includes desert stretches with long carries between water stations, alpine routes through the Sierra Nevada Mountains that involve high passes and snow crossings, and dense, forested portions of the Cascade mountains. Because of these extremes, the PCT, which is longer, is considered more difficult to hike than the AT.

The environmental movement of the 1960s brought with it an interest in the outdoors, and in camping and hiking. In particular, backpacking exploded as a sport. Outdoor schools such as Outward Bound and the National Outdoor Leadership School trained a new generation of wilderness leaders and enthusiasts. Old trails were explored, new trails were built. Trails were linked to form longer trails.

The existence of the two long national trails led to the idea of a trail along the Continental Divide. The trail was designated in 1978, yet remains unfinished to this day due to the rugged nature of the terrain. This has not stopped hikers from attempting this longest hike in the Triple Crown. The route begins in the desert of New Mexico, runs through the high peaks of Colorado, then treks more desert country, including the Great Divide Basin in Wyoming. The trail then winds through Yellowstone country along the border of Idaho and Montana before reaching its northern terminus in Glacier NP.

The CDT includes vast wilderness, high elevation, and many alternate routes. It is the least marked, requiring navigation, and has miles of road walks between established sections. The weather is unpredictable with snow/thunderstorms. Route-finding and navigation skills are essential. The CDT is over 3000 miles.

I have always been fascinated by these long trails, yet have little to no experience with them. I have only been to a couple of the states in the east where the AT runs, and nowhere near the trail itself. I have hiked in California, Oregon, and Washington but I don’t think the PCT has been a part of any of the trails I have walked. Similarly, I have hiked in all of the states that the CDT passes through, but only in Montana have I been on the official trail.

To be hiking and see the CDT badge on a signpost is magical for me. I have encountered these markers in several locations in Montana. Most of these trails have been near Continental Divide passes since the trail closely follows that feature. At Lemhi Pass, Lost Trail Pass, and McDonald Pass, I have walked a few miles while encountering and chatting with thru-hikers. On Homestake Pass, I walked the official CDT for a couple of miles on both sides of the interstate but saw no other people in October.

A few years ago, while poring over a map, I found a place called Italian Peaks; I’d never heard of these mountains on the Idaho-Montana border. That required a road trip. I spent a few days in the backcountry forty miles southwest of Lima, camping near the Divide. I did not quite make it to the Italian Peaks but for several days I camped near the CDT and hiked the trail and climbed peaks on the ridge that formed the Continental Divide and is also the border between Idaho and Montana.

The Divide emerges from Yellowstone, runs east-west for a long stretch and turns north at Eighteen Mile Peak. This is one of the most remote areas in Montana, or in the United States for that matter. From Targhee and Raynolds Pass the only paved road until Lost Trail Pass hundreds of miles away is Interstate 15. The CDT access is from the Lima exit. Forty miles of dirt road takes you to a series of ponds called Harkness Lakes. The road ended on the shore of one of these, at least for me. Compound low 4-wheel drive got me to the edge of the lake; that was far enough.

Being in the mountains at the end of the road is always a good place to be. But this place, given the other details on the Divide, on the CDT, and in view of a long ridge of 10,000-foot-plus rugged peaks, was truly special. Rising early each morning, I boiled coffee on the tailgate, fired down a granola bar, and set off south up a handy ridge toward the peaks less than a mile away. The entire area, including the tiny lakes, was above tree line. The views were expansive and lofty. I crossed the CDT and within an hour had gained the Divide itself. The days were glorious and sunny. I climbed a peak or two and headed back to camp in time for the usual afternoon thunderstorm, which I viewed through the windshield in the cab of the truck. Well, maybe once I got a bit caught in the wind and rain, but not too badly.

When the storms blew over, the air was crystal clear, the peaks vivid and close. Supper was cooked once again on the back of the truck. Soon enough, the next part of the daily routine began—the star show. As the sun set in the west and the sky faded to dark, the first stars—well, planets, appeared. Then more, then dozens, then the Milky Way clouded its track across the firmament.

Same schedule the next day; three like that were not nearly enough, but had to do for that trip. As I dropped off the lake plateau, I could see nothing but the truck hood in the air for a moment. Bouncing down, I wondered what had possessed me to gun it up there but was glad I had. That trip was no thru-hike, but it gave me a flavor of what one must feel like.

I had felt none of the fatigue, none of the hunger, none of the uncertainty of what might lie ahead around the next bend. There were times up on the ridge when I could see my truck next to the lake far below. But this experience was not watching a video. I was there on the ground, on the trail itself, at least that tiny portion of it. For all my car camp conveniences I did feel a bit of the isolation, the closeness to something wild, which is the point, and the purpose.

Looking at an interactive online map, I’ve just realized that the longest stretch of the CDT I have hiked is in the Wind Rivers in Wyoming, south from Green River Lakes for about a dozen miles. Counting the mileage I have hiked in Montana, that gives me around 30 miles total on the CDT, or one percent. At my age, I am only going to need a few hundred more years to complete this trail. Time to get out there.