1978 - Contintental Divide NST
This challenging trail more than fulfills hikers' dreams of journying along North America's mountain backbone. Extending from Canada to Mexico, the "CDT" crosses many ecosystems from tundra to desert. It hosts a rich variety of wildlife and links together hundreds of natural, cultural, and historical assets. Considered one of the great long-distance trails of the world - together with the Pacific Crest and the Appalachian NSTs, one of hiking's "Triple Crown" - it is the most remote of the NSTs. In the mid 1970s, Baltimore lawyer and Appalachian Trail though-hiker, Jim Wolf, hiked part of this route and became so enamored with it that he published a guidebook and advocated for its establishment as a NST. In 1976, the BOR completed the feasibility study and noted that the scenic quality of the trail was superlative. Today the Trail is administered by the USDA Forsest Service in partnership with both the Continiental Divide Trail Coalition and the Continental Divide Trail Society. Both groups catalyze public awareness and voluteer enthusiasm of the Trail in the five states it crosses.