Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Volunteer opportunities are plentiful. If you choose one of the many organized projects
(they range from building a new trail on Berthoud Pass in Colorado to replacing a bridge in
Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming), you can sign up to be a crew leader, a crew chef (you'll
get a budget and lots of backcountry cooking gear), or just one of the gofers that rakes up
underbrush, clears out rocks and roots, and helps inventory the trail.
WHY THIS EFFORT IS IMPORTANT
Eighty percent of Americans live in cities and urban areas. The Continental Divide
Trail is a way of giving urban dwellers a place to connect to the wilderness.
Or maybe you'd rather sign up for CDTA's Explorer Program, which invites volunteers
to scout the backcountry for new routes. In other words, you'll literally explore virgin ter-
ritory. Heather Gordon, for example, recently blazed a new 15-mile segment between Big
Spring and Antelope Spring in the Cibola National Forest of New Mexico. Before her work,
hikers on the trail were forced to take a forestry road they shared with diesel-belching log-
ging trucks.
Although you will be responsible for getting yourself to the designated meeting place
(you'll get a letter explaining everything once you register), there is no cost to volunteer on
one of the CDTA projects.
HOW TO GET IN TOUCH
Continental Divide Trail Alliance,
P.O. Box 628, Pine, CO 80470, 888-909-2382 or
303-838-3760, www.cdtrail.org.
