TheWGS Many The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail

The Continental Divide Trail spans 3,100 miles along the Rocky Mountains. Stretching from the Montana/Canadian border to the New Mexico/Mexican border. This guide will help plan a hike along the trail.

This is not a step-by-step account of the CDT. Nor is it a description of every hill and switchback that you will encounter along the way. There are countless guidebooks to follow for that purpose. What this is intended to be is your guide to planning. Whether your goal is a thru-hike along the trail or segment hiking. Many guidebooks were used in Developing this guide.

The Montana – Idaho section of the CDT begins at the Canadian border and traverses south through Glacier National Park traveling along the Livingston Range. Traversing the Lewis and Clark Range, you pass through Flathead National Forest, Lewis and Clark National Forest, and The Bob Marshall, Scapegoat Wilderness Complex. Crossing the Continental Divide a number of times you continue south through Helena National Forest.

While in Deerlodge National Forest, the divide trail continues south through the Highland Mountains then turns westward along the Anaconda Range into Beaverhead National Forest, and the Anaconda – Pinter Wilderness. Near the Montana – Idaho border the trail turns back towards the south and follows the Beaverhead Range through Beaverhead and Salmon National Forests. At the south end of this range, the trail continues eastward through the Targhee National Forest and this segment ends at Macks Inn, Idaho.

The CDT

Rather than one long route, The Continental Divide Trail (CDT) is more of a conglomeration of routes. Furthermore, much of the route is unmarked or trail-less. It is said that no two hikers will follow the same route unless they route exampleare hiking together. In many instances, the Designated Route may not be the most desirable. The option is yours. The maps have the Designated Route highlighted in magenta. The Alternate Route is Yellow. However, when the Alternate Route is the Preferred Route it will be noted in blue. At some locations, the need to hike to a town for supplies may present itself. Green highlights the Trails to Towns (T2T),

The Provided map highlights The Continental Divide Trail. Color marks the trail as mentioned above. Clicking the highlighted trail makes the label appear. These labels correspond to both the “Route Highlights” and the “Waypoints, Mileage, and Elevation Gain & Loss”.

Route Highlights

The “Route Highlights” list the route sections in order from north to south. The labels match the labels for each section on the maps. The colors match as well. The designated trail will always appear first followed by any Preferred or alternate.

Waypoints, Mileage, and Elevation Gain & Loss

The table for “Waypoints, Mileage, and Elevation Gain & Loss” includes all the routes listed in order from north to south, which also matches the Route Highlights. Each section number (Sec) is sequentially numbered from north to south. Whole numbers mark the designated trail, the letter P indicates the preferred trail, and alternate routes will have a number followed by the letter A. The designated trail always comes first, and the other trails follow. For each waypoint, there is a name, latitude, and longitude provided. These waypoints use the WGS 84 datum and the table also displays its altitude. In the Dst column, you can see the distance between waypoints. The TtL Dist is the cumulative distance in each section. The next two columns show the maximum and minimum altitude along the route, followed by the total altitude gain and loss.

Waypoints and Mileage

As this is just a planning guide the need for waypoint will vary in distance and are there mainly to help identify the route.

CDT Segment Links

Montana/Idaho

Border to East Glacier Park Segment 01 East Glacier Park to Benchmark Segment 02
Benchmark to Rogers Pass Segment 03 Rogers Pass to MacDonald Pass Segment 04
MacDonald Pass to Homestake Segment 05 Homestake to Lost Trail Pass Segment 06
Lost Trail Pass to Bannock Pass Segment 07 Bannock Pass to Bannack Pass Segment 08
Bannack Pass to Macks Inn Segment 09
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