Traveler III
Cross-posted from Trip Planning in the hopes some more locals may see it here!
Should’ve started this thread months ago, but…such is life. Any local knowledge on additional routes, POIs, and some of the concerns outlined below would be most welcome!
I, my wife, and our two fur missiles will be departing Virginia on 14 June for 4 solid weeks of exploring the northern half of the Continental Divide Trail using the tracks ever so graciously provided by @Kent R. I FINALLY got around to starting to roughly plan out daily travel based on no more than 5-6 hours a day of driving, and am running into a problem…I have 20 days to be on trail, and…well…I need to find some amazing places to either throw down an anchor and stay a few days, or find more miles of dirt! Not a terrible problem at all to have.
I planned on starting at an amazing campsite we discovered in Routt NF just south of Steamboat Springs for our first night (after 3 days of buzzing across I-70 staying in hotels). Alternatively, to add another day, I may surprise the wife with the spot we found at Klines Folly in Supply Basin just north of Glenwood Springs. On the other end of the trip, we intended to allow for 5 days to return home (hotels, again) driving through Glacier on our way to briefly visit Devil’s Tower, Rushmore, and Badlands NP. Keeping in mind we have our dogs, we can’t do any hiking at the sites and intend to either take turns individually taking stuff in, or if temps allow leaving the dogs in the truck for brief periods.
What are we rolling with? ’21 Power Wagon on 37s w/ OVRLND pop-up camper over the bed that’s equipped with heat, plenty of water, plenty of food, and 4 gal of extra fuel in Rotopax. Here she is the day after getting the camper put on in Flagstaff
So…to the meat of it.
We want to get a decent amount of hiking in, where permissible (i.e. not Nat’l Parks) with the dogs. Doesn’t have to be daily, but that’s a huge regret we have from our otherwise incredible trip throughout Colorado last summer. Obviously elevation to us near sea level dwellers is always a consideration. I found some fantastic trails around the Grand Teton area outside the NP, but any must-see/experience hikes along Kent’s route would be appreciated.
With the absolutely insane amount of snow out west this year, I’m truly concerned about how much snowpack will still remain during our timeframe. Not, necessarily, limiting travel (though possible), but more so snowmelt, flooding, mud, etc. Pretty fixed on these dates. Can any locals weigh in on their expectations/ground truth? I’m well aware of alpine weather having a mind of its own, and we’ll have proper clothing for any conditions. But flooding, and consummate mud with dogs kinda sucks LOL.
Our intent is to try and be in the dirt M – F, then find an AirBnB rental for weekends. This gets us a couple hot showers, laundry, groceries, and reliable internet to catch up on a little work. We much prefer this to hotel/motel chains; particularly with our dogs. It also tends to get us out of the woods when more people have time to take to the woods. If anyone has any epic places to consider renting…we’re all ears!
Finally…for anyone that’s run the route…how many hours of driving did it take? Am I going to have to REALLY slow down? I also know that more than a few have run the WYBDR in central WY in full-size rigs. Would it be worth running that, then looping back down south through Cody and Lander to where the CDT and BDR intersect before continuing north? Or are there enough incredible places along the CDT to simply park it for a couple days of hiking/exploring? Bonus points given for any recommended sites with hiking straight from camp so we don’t have to break everything down and then come back to someone in our spot.
Totally open to creating loops and offshoots at any point along the way, so long as it’s full-size friendly. I’m not scared in the least of locking the axles, but I’m not looking for body damage, and I’ll also have pups bouncing around in their insert with my Dutch Shepherd having a propensity to puke
We’re totally down for meeting folks along the journey as well! The only catch is…while my dogs are fine with people (my Malinois will be your lifelong best friend in short order while my Dutch will probably hide behind me)…they are not good with other dogs and take more time than we’d have to eventually tolerate them.
Should’ve started this thread months ago, but…such is life. Any local knowledge on additional routes, POIs, and some of the concerns outlined below would be most welcome!
I, my wife, and our two fur missiles will be departing Virginia on 14 June for 4 solid weeks of exploring the northern half of the Continental Divide Trail using the tracks ever so graciously provided by @Kent R. I FINALLY got around to starting to roughly plan out daily travel based on no more than 5-6 hours a day of driving, and am running into a problem…I have 20 days to be on trail, and…well…I need to find some amazing places to either throw down an anchor and stay a few days, or find more miles of dirt! Not a terrible problem at all to have.
I planned on starting at an amazing campsite we discovered in Routt NF just south of Steamboat Springs for our first night (after 3 days of buzzing across I-70 staying in hotels). Alternatively, to add another day, I may surprise the wife with the spot we found at Klines Folly in Supply Basin just north of Glenwood Springs. On the other end of the trip, we intended to allow for 5 days to return home (hotels, again) driving through Glacier on our way to briefly visit Devil’s Tower, Rushmore, and Badlands NP. Keeping in mind we have our dogs, we can’t do any hiking at the sites and intend to either take turns individually taking stuff in, or if temps allow leaving the dogs in the truck for brief periods.
What are we rolling with? ’21 Power Wagon on 37s w/ OVRLND pop-up camper over the bed that’s equipped with heat, plenty of water, plenty of food, and 4 gal of extra fuel in Rotopax. Here she is the day after getting the camper put on in Flagstaff
So…to the meat of it.
We want to get a decent amount of hiking in, where permissible (i.e. not Nat’l Parks) with the dogs. Doesn’t have to be daily, but that’s a huge regret we have from our otherwise incredible trip throughout Colorado last summer. Obviously elevation to us near sea level dwellers is always a consideration. I found some fantastic trails around the Grand Teton area outside the NP, but any must-see/experience hikes along Kent’s route would be appreciated.
With the absolutely insane amount of snow out west this year, I’m truly concerned about how much snowpack will still remain during our timeframe. Not, necessarily, limiting travel (though possible), but more so snowmelt, flooding, mud, etc. Pretty fixed on these dates. Can any locals weigh in on their expectations/ground truth? I’m well aware of alpine weather having a mind of its own, and we’ll have proper clothing for any conditions. But flooding, and consummate mud with dogs kinda sucks LOL.
Our intent is to try and be in the dirt M – F, then find an AirBnB rental for weekends. This gets us a couple hot showers, laundry, groceries, and reliable internet to catch up on a little work. We much prefer this to hotel/motel chains; particularly with our dogs. It also tends to get us out of the woods when more people have time to take to the woods. If anyone has any epic places to consider renting…we’re all ears!
Finally…for anyone that’s run the route…how many hours of driving did it take? Am I going to have to REALLY slow down? I also know that more than a few have run the WYBDR in central WY in full-size rigs. Would it be worth running that, then looping back down south through Cody and Lander to where the CDT and BDR intersect before continuing north? Or are there enough incredible places along the CDT to simply park it for a couple days of hiking/exploring? Bonus points given for any recommended sites with hiking straight from camp so we don’t have to break everything down and then come back to someone in our spot.
Totally open to creating loops and offshoots at any point along the way, so long as it’s full-size friendly. I’m not scared in the least of locking the axles, but I’m not looking for body damage, and I’ll also have pups bouncing around in their insert with my Dutch Shepherd having a propensity to puke
We’re totally down for meeting folks along the journey as well! The only catch is…while my dogs are fine with people (my Malinois will be your lifelong best friend in short order while my Dutch will probably hide behind me)…they are not good with other dogs and take more time than we’d have to eventually tolerate them.
Last edited:
