Recalculating Route...

You know how sometimes when you're using your navigation and all of a sudden the route starts recalculating? It can be so frustrating. You have to get your bearings all over again, and you second guess Siri (or who/whatever is guiding you), because you were already familiar with the original route, and you wonder if she knows what she's doing.

Does she know something you don't know and is trying to make it easier for you to get there? Is she overwhelmed by signal overload, maybe can't quite zero in on where you are? Does she know which direction you're actually headed, or does she have you turned around or something like that?

So as unpredictable spring weather has made Jamie's originally planned route, oh let's say... less than desirable, there's been considerable energy devoted to assessing the situation along the CDT and exploring possible alternate approaches. At the root of this was a recent big snowfall in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. When he first started encountering some of the southerly tail ends of this snow at higher elevations in New Mexico, he asked me to do a little checking with some folks we'd come across in Telluride over the winter.

Now the trail doesn't actually go through Telluride, but it skirts it. It's obviously a big outdoor sports kind of place. We "happened" to go into a gear shop that was, as Jamie would say, "the real deal" when we visited. (BTW, it's amazing how often we "happen" to go into gear shops!)

I will admit that The Jagged Edge Mountain Gear was definitely the real deal, so I thought maybe the guys there would have a helpful perspective on the snow situation on and/or near the CDT.

So, I called and spoke with them. You could tell that the guy didn't want to be TOO discouraging, presumably because he has no idea how skilled a hiker might be, but it was hard to miss the gist of it.

"there is A LOT of snow"

"people are still skiing"

"definitely count on post-holing"

"can be really hard to see the trail, even without all the snow, but with it... man."

So, this is the information I conveyed to Jamie, who was already in roundtable discussions with other hikers about what they might do. Where he landed, was a flip north. They'll fly into Helena, MT to hike southbound (SOBO) from there to Cumbres Pass, CO where they'll be exiting their northbound (NOBO) hike. When they get back to Cumbres Pass, they'll fly back to Helena and hike the remaining trail NOBO.

It's at this point where one might be asking Siri if she really knows what she's doing because this sounds a little crazy! Especially when you look at southwestern Montana weather and see that a big snowstorm hit the area recently! But here is where having a good understanding of elevation, snowpack, temperatures, etc. is (surprise, surprise) quite helpful.

Now, I will not overstate my understanding of all of these factors, and I will admit my own amazement at how hard it can be to find good, current, and clear information about specific areas on the trail, when you KNOW it's out there! But those hikers are pretty good at sharing tools and tips with each other along the way.

Elevation makes such a big difference. When the CDT crosses from New Mexico to Colorado, they are at roughly 10,386 ft elevation. The point of the trail nearest to Helena, MT is at about 6,316 ft elevation. Big difference. Of course it's not the only consideration, but it's a big one.

All other factors being equal (which of course, they never are), snow will stick around longer at the higher elevations.

So it's a bit of an assessment of whether you think the more southern latitudes are enough to counter the higher elevations.

And what weather systems are expected to come through...

And what time of year it is...

So I'm not going to second guess Siri - I mean, Jamie - on this. He's too thorough, too detail-oriented. I know he knows what he's doing.