[pct-l] Looking for Great Divide Trail hiking partner

River Taig rivertaig at gmail.com
Thu Mar 19 18:49:18 CDT 2015


*Hey PCT-listers*: Hopefully I won't get banned for mentioning another
trail on this list, but I'm looking for a backpacking veteran to join me on
a hike of the Great Divide Trail in Canada this summer beginning about July
15 and ending around September 15.  I'm looking for someone who has hiked
at least 1000 miles in one go (doesn't have to be on the PCT of course) and
so therefore has a pretty good notion as to what they would be getting into
on this adventure.  I backpacked 1000 km of the 1200 km GDT in 2013, but
was unable to do the whole trail due to the monumental early summer
floods.  But I'm wanting to go back and try again this year as a south to
north thru hike.  It's a pretty tough trail to be sure, but if you like
remote high alpine scenery and don't mind a significantly looser definition
of "trail", this might be a great hike for you.
A little about myself - I'm 46 year old guy - computer programmer by trade,
but I turn into a hiker nut every summer for about 10 weeks.  I live in
Colorado with my partner and our two dogs.  I reckon I'm pretty easy going
as most hikers go; I'm a vegetarian, Buddhist, geek, gay, hippie, pacifist,
marathon runner...I guess all those adjectives apply.  If your cool with
that, chances are excellent you'd be cool with me too. I put just a TON of
work into making maps and figuring out the logistics for my 2013 hike, so I
still have all that and a clean and accurate GPS track-line for the whole
route. For 80-90% of the trail, I know where the rough spots are, where we
can fly, and where we'll be slowed down. I'm generally good with around
25-30km / day (this ain't the PCT where at least 30-35 would be the
equivalent).  I don't want to plan on taking too many zero days as it is
just too expensive in Canada to get a hotel, but certainly a small handful
(like three-five max) would probably be about right.
There's a fair amount of information about the GDT online (
http://www.greatdividetrail.com/) for those who are curious.  Other than a
little extra company, the other two reasons I'm looking for a partner is
(1) bears are less of an issue with two hikers than with one (2) I'm
wanting to pioneer a really cool (possibly crazy) alternate and largely
cross-country route north out of Lake Louise that might be a little sketchy
in places.  So...non-adventurous folks need not apply!

River


More information about the Pct-L mailing list