[cdt-l] Northbound or Southbound - long

[Jim and/or Ginny Owen]

Several years ago I attempted to analyze the differences between hiking 
north on the CDT and hiking southbound.  After our southbound hike, I was 
sure that hiking south was the way to go – after all, we had a terrific 
hike, one I’d recommend to anybody.  Yet when I said that, northbound hikers 
immediately said, “No, it is much better to go north.”  So, because I was 
curious, we decided on our second thruhike to do it northbound, just to see 
for ourselves what it was like and to answer the question,  is it better to 
go north or to go south?

And the answer is – they’re different.  Both ways have advantages and 
disadvantages, but whichever way you go, you will probably think it was the 
right direction – for you.

So – which way is right for you?  I think most hikers decide when they’ll 
start and which direction based largely on when the timing is right for 
them.  What is your job situation?  How impatient are you to be on the 
trail?  Some have read a journal that either made them decide they wanted to 
hike under the same conditions or that they definitely didn’t want to hike 
under those conditions.  I read Karen Berger’s book before our first hike 
and that certainly made hiking southbound sound like a better bet.  Yet in 
talking to her years later, she said she thought that northbound was a 
better way to go because it allowed you to get into shape gradually, on the 
easy trail in southern New Mexico rather than by starting out with snow and 
steep climbs in Glacier.

A lot of hikers start in New Mexico because they don’t want to wait to start 
their hike.  Northbound means you can begin in mid to late-April instead of 
late June.  It means you begin with dry warm temperatures, fairly flat 
trail, and easy navigation.  There are towns fairly early in the hike 
(Lordsburg, Silver City or Deming), so you don’t have to carry huge loads of 
food the first week – though that changes soon enough when you reach the 
Gila.  The desert in spring can be beautiful, though very dry.  In New 
Mexico the rainy season doesn’t begin until July, so May can be really, 
really dry.  This can mean fire restrictions and even closures of the trail 
through the National Forests.  It may mean that the cows are taken off the 
range and so water sources (windmills or wells) are turned off when you get 
there.  Even in a very dry year (25% of normal) after 7 years of drought, we 
always found enough water to get through, but there were times that we were 
surprised by dry wells along the way.

Northbound hikers usually reach Colorado in early June.  If you get there 
too soon, you will find a lot of snow, making for hard hiking and invisible 
trail.  Some hikers do roadwalks around the snow, some do shortcuts that 
omit some of the most remote and beautiful stretches of the CDT, some decide 
to skip Colorado entirely and jump north to either Wyoming or Montana.  Some 
simply wait a week or two until the trail is passable.  We were lucky and 
timed it right, so we reached the snowy mountains just as the snow was 
disappearing.  We still ended up doing two overnight detours  (once from 
Blue Lake to Platoro Reservoir to Elbert Pass, the other down Trout Creek 
around the Knife Edge) but for the most part, snow navigation wasn’t a 
problem for us.  Colorado in early summer is beautiful – with green meadows 
and lots of flowers. It also can be crowded – a lot of people use the trail 
in the summer, from hikers, horsepeople and runners to bikes and ATVs.  We 
had little solitude in Colorado this year.  This has an interesting side 
effect – almost every town we went through had some sort of summer festival 
going either just before or just after we passed through. I would have 
enjoyed the folk festival in Pagosa Springs – but we couldn’t afford to stay 
an extra day or two at that point.  Fourth of July has its own festivities.  
Grand Lake was having another weekend festival when we passed through.  We 
stayed for the Rotary Club Breakfast – but missed the barbeque, darn it.  
Other towns had Rodeos or art shows every weekend during the summer.  The 
downside to hiking Colorado northbound is the thunderstorms.  Some hikers 
start hiking before dawn to miss the daily thunderstorms.  We just lived 
with them.   While we only had a few bad storms, we were lucky.  There were 
several days where we saw black clouds a few miles away that just missed us. 
  Some days we got rained and hailed on several times – but we only ran into 
bad lightning a few times, and that usually at night.  But we were lucky.  
It did mean that we skipped climbing the 14,000’ peaks, since every time we 
were near one the timing was wrong.  We didn’t want to go up any of them 
when the black clouds were looming.  And they always were.

Wyoming is much the same for either northbound or southbound hikers, since 
we both reach the state in August – full summer.  It may be hot – or not. It 
may rain – or not.  It may be windy – or not.  There are likely to be below 
freezing nights in the Winds – but that’s true whichever way you hike.  
There are lots of flowers in the high country and crowds in Yellowstone and 
the Winds – for both northbound and southbound hikers.

Montana in the fall is different for northbound hikers.  It can be very dry 
and fire closures are a possibility.  This year there was smoke from fires 
all over the west for most of August and September, but they never closed 
the Forests, just a few sections that were actually on fire when we hiked 
there. (We had four separate fires directly on the trail ahead of us.) Going 
through the Bob Marshall in September means low stream crossings and the 
beginning of autumn color.  It can mean very cold nights and snow – whether 
you are there in September or October – or beautiful hiking with a lot of 
wildlife.  Glacier in the fall can be beautiful or the beginning of winter. 
Bears are getting ready to hibernate and may be a bit more aggressive.  The 
Park closes down in the middle of September.  The backcountry offices closed 
this year on September 17, as did the stores and motels (except St. Mary’s 
and East Glacier Lodge).  If you arrive after that, you have to go to West 
Glacier to get your permit.  The border crossing closed on October 1, which 
meant that public transportation stopped the day before.  If you don’t have 
someone to pick you up at the border, this can be a problem as there will be 
no cars past St. Mary’s.

The result is – most northbound hikers feel pressure to finish before the 
Park closes and/or winter sets in.  It is hard to feel like taking your time 
when you start worrying about being snowbound in the northern Rockies. You 
can deal with northern Montana in the fall – but it means carrying winter 
gear from the middle of September and understanding that it will be cold – 
at least some of the time.

This is the same worry that southbound hikers have with Colorado – but 
because it is the end of the trail for northbounders, there is more of a 
sense that it is preventable, if only you can hike fast enough to get 
through before the seasons change.  Our solution was to jump north from 
Butte in mid-September, deal with the Park bureaucracy before the services 
closed down for the season and hike south.  We had snow in Glacier, 
beautiful Indian summer in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, more snow in Helena 
and warm sunny days to finish our hike in mid-October.  But we were lucky.

So – why would you want to hike southbound?  Lots of reasons.  Starting at 
the end of June means you have a couple of weeks of snow starting out your 
hike, but then you might not have to deal with it again for the rest of the 
hike.  You are more likely to be able to do a straightforward linear hike as 
a southbounder – which is important to a lot of hikers.  You have less time 
pressure to finish the hike before winter sets in.  A six month hike becomes 
a possibility if you are willing to be creative (i.e. we started May 30 near 
Butte and hiked north for a month before flipping south) or to live with the 
possibility of winter weather in Colorado.  While it can be cold and snowy 
in Colorado in the autumn, the snows tend not to last very long, so if you 
can get to town to wait out the storm, it is generally possible to continue 
hiking soon afterwards.  In Colorado there are many towns near the trail, so 
if it becomes necessary, it is easier to bail than in Montana.  New Mexico 
in the fall is usually sunny and though it can be very cold at night in 
November, it is possible to continue hiking into December if you choose.

We loved hiking through Glacier and the Bob Marshall in June – it was 
beautiful with all the snow covered mountains and we had the trail to 
ourselves.  For six days in the Bob we didn’t see another human footprint – 
much less another hiker or horseperson.  That was a unique and wonderful 
experience.  Water crossings are generally high and frequent, which can be a 
hazard, but you don’t have to worry about dry springs, and snowbanks make 
good water sources in dry stretches.

Southbound hikers generally have a more solitary hike.  When we hiked 
northbound, we rarely went two days without seeing someone. That wasn’t the 
case for our southbound hike.  We had the mountains to ourselves, much of 
the way.  When we reached Colorado it was already autumn, so we often had 
the trails to ourselves except on the weekends.  If this is what you value – 
then southbound may be the way to go.  If you hate solitude – don’t do the 
CDT.

Southbound hikers encounter summer wildflowers in southern Montana and 
northern Wyoming in great abundance.  Colorado meant autumn color – which 
extended into northern New Mexico.  It was beautiful – even though aspen 
makes us sneeze.  We had very little problem with thunderstorms on our 
southbound hike – though there were a couple storms.  That is because 
southern Montana is very very dry – the storms all passed north of us.

The pressure on southbound hikers is to get through southern Colorado before 
winter sets in.   For many, that means skipping the San Juan loop – and then 
regretting it when the weather turns out to be less of a problem than 
expected.  Snow storms are always a possibility.  We picked up our winter 
gear September 20th, but wished we had it when we got caught in a blizzard 
on September 19th.  We found that southbound was a colder hike than 
northbound, because you are in the high country either early (June in 
Montana) or late (Colorado in September/October).  It makes a difference in 
your pack weight. If you are a very strong fast hiker – starting in July and 
finishing Colorado three months later – you may not have too much problem. 
But those who hike for five or six months need to be prepared for freezing 
nights every month you are out there.  (Yes, it can snow in the Wind River 
Range in July or August.)

New Mexico in the autumn can be a delight, especially if you had cold or 
snow in the high country of Colorado.  Warm and sunny, with springs that 
actually have water, it is possible to hike easily and quickly along the 
many dirt roads that make up much of  the trail.  It is a pleasant and easy 
way to end the hike – especially if you don’t get into race for the border 
mode.  We saw a lot of wildlife on our southbound hike – largely because 
there was so much more water than in the spring.  OTOH, the Gila in spring 
was a welcome oasis – in the fall it was cold. You might want to spend some 
time with maps looking for alterative routes that don’t require 140 river 
crossings – like the official route through the Black Range or the Granny 
Mountain trail.  New Mexico was still beautiful – both in the spring and in 
the autumn.

Which direction did I enjoy most?  Both were terrific. Knowing what I know, 
I would do it again, either way.  Or maybe I'd hike north through New Mexico 
and then flip to Montana - I haven't tried that yet.

So which way should you go? Well, you could wait to see what the snow is 
like this spring - heavy in Montana or heavy in Colorado.  Or you could flip 
a coin.  Whichever way you go - there are more positives than negatives.

Ginny

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/

_________________________________________________________________
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