Where is the trail?

In keeping with my recent posts of random trail memories, I present yet another tidbit from the trail. I return to the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) once again. This time, a musing on what constitutes a trail.

One of the oldest long trails in the U.S. is the Appalachian Trail (AT). This well-defined trail is amply marked with white paint, the so-called White Blaze. They appear on trees, posts, and other points along the trail. On the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) there is also a well-defined trail and ample use of the Official Reassurance Markers, which are usually a little triangular metal sign with the Pacific Crest Trail Association’s logo on it. No blazes, no paint on the trees.

So what about the third big trail, the CDT? Yeah, what about it? Originally, they used tuna cans nailed to a tree, a kind of DIY solution. This was in the more northern reaches of the trail. Some information claims they were painted bright blue. Apparently, those humble markers are all rusted and gone now. They have been replaced by a combination of things.

But before I get to what they are, I must mention that unlike the AT or the PCT, the Continental Divide Trail is not a well-defined trail. Oh, for a lot of the route there is a nice, maintained trail. But a sizable chunk of it is more of an idea than a trail. If there is a trail, there are often several different alternate routes through an area, and those are considered legitimate parts of the CDT, too. This is upsetting to some of the more strait-laced AT hikers who want one and only one true official route. “Choose your own adventure,” Is what the CDT Coalition tells hikers.

Ok, back to trail markers used on the CDT. Bright blue paint is applied in areas of the desert as trees are in short supply. Rocks, fence posts, telephone poles, bones— really anything that has a surface to paint— is used. Rock cairns are also popular on featureless plains. Where trees are more abundant, there is the bright blue triangular logo of the CDT Coalition that is nailed to trees like the PCT. And in some locations, you are advised to keep a particular hill or mountain in view and make your way toward it for the next 7 miles. Like I said, more of an idea than a trail.

The picture below is of me in southern New Mexico on the CDT. You can tell I’m on the trail by the bright blue painted fence post. I had entered this area by shimmying under another barbed wire fence with a bright blue fence post. I was to keep some point on the mountain I was walking towards in view as I made my way across this patch of desert for 3/4 of a mile. There was no trail on the ground.