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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 Elwood 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 on the highway north of 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 getting caught by winter 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 journey, 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 (or longer) 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 probability 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. The shorter daylight hours make it harder to do big miles. It was dark at 5:00 in November – still we were hiking over 20 miles a day. We saw a lot of wildlife in New Mexico 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.
Created: 04 Jan 2007
Revised: 15 Nov 2009Copyright © 2004-2009 Spirit Eagle