5-state trail · National Scenic Trail

Continental Divide National Scenic Trail

3,100 mi long · across 5 states

The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail runs roughly 3,100 miles along the Continental Divide of the Americas, from the Mexican border in New Mexico to the Canadian border in Montana. The least-completed of the 'Triple Crown' of long-distance hiking trails (alongside the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail), it remains in places unmarked or unfinished and requires substantial route-finding skill.

States: New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana
Length: 3,100 mi
Trail type: National Scenic Trail
Network: National (nwn)
Centroid nearest city: Salt Lake City, UT · 135 mi · ~3.9 hr drive
Centroid coords: 40.5873°, -109.3172°
Official site: continentaldividetrail.org
OSM relations: 5 sub-relations on OpenStreetMap

From Wikipedia: The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of 3,028 miles (4,873 km) between the U.S. border with Chihuahua, Mexico, and the border with Alberta, Canada. Frequent route changes and a large number of alternate routes result in an actual hiking distance of 2,700 miles (4,300 km) to 3,150 miles (5,070 km). The CDT follows the Continental Divide of the Americas along the Rocky Mountains and traverses five U.S. states — Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. In Montana near the Canadian border the trail crosses Triple Divide Pass. Excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Continental Divide Trail, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Termini

Start & end

Southern terminus: Crazy Cook Monument, New Mexico (Mexican border).

Northern terminus: Glacier National Park, Montana (Canadian border).

Plan your hike

Practical notes

Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.

Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.

When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.

If you've hiked Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.

Other trails within 50 miles

1 nearby

Utah

Uinta Highline Trail

46 miles from this trail's centroid

Sources

Public data + curation

Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.