by site editor Rick McCharles
I’ve done enough investigation this summer.
My first thru hike will be this:
… The CDT passes through many of the highest and wildest mountain regions of Colorado, such as the San Juan Mountains and the Sawatch Range. …
It is concurrent with the Colorado Trail for approximately 200 miles. The Continental Divide itself in Colorado meanders some 650 miles. There are many stretches of the Continental Divide in Colorado that have no distinct marked or named trail. …
All I need now is TIME one summer. And a solar powered, satellite blogging device.
Advice?
Leave a comment.
besthike.com 
The thru-hike is a great idea, the daily blog is a great idea, but the two together are tricky! 🙂
Andy has been using a sat-phone and providing daily twitter updates which are linked elsewhere (Facebook, etc). Cell coverage isn’t bad in CO; you could do the same with an iPhone, which besides including a camera also has apps to interface with F-Book, etc. Solar chargers are easy.
The CDT thru CO is great. But if it’s your first thru-hike, you may consider the Colorado Trail. Much less time, much less planning, and mostly as nice. A thru-hike is a different deal; might want to work out your system first.
Thanks Buzz.
I like your suggestion on the shorter trail, considering I’d have trouble getting enough time to do the CD.
Also, I’ve had great luck getting line-of-sight mobile phone coverage while hiking, especially on mountain tops.
Will try for AUGUST 2011.
Verizon, I assume, has the best coverage in remote Colorado.
If you decide on The Colorado Trail, don’t hesitate to connect with us in the little office of The Colorado Trail Foundation in Golden. We answer questions and our publications will help you plan and navigate.
www ColoradoTrail.org
Sponsors, such as gear companies might be willing to partner with you and your site to, if little else, cover the cost of the specialized technology and perhaps provide a light-wieght laptop. Proposals might be worthwhile for companies like Nikwax, MontBell, Colombia, Merrell or Brunton (they also make Primus stoves), just to name a few. Theoretically, you could blog just for your site with their ads or hat-tip or simultaneously to your site and their site.
Andrew Szalay
SuburbanMountaineer.com
Thanks Andrew. I’ll certainly give that a try.
Now … to block some weeks of August free next summer.
Wow. That sounds like a great plan. I hope you have a great trip full of excitement and completely no harmful injury.
Plenty of advice here! I thruhiked in 2010. A post on my blog, http://www.outside365.com about planning for the CDT is at http://outside365.com/2011/02/03/planning-a-thruhike-on-the-continental-divide-trail/
As for blogging from the trail..
You are right, Verizon has pretty good coverage. You’d be able to post from a smartphone pretty frequently. Then if you get a SPOT Connect, you could do short messages from pretty much anywhere.
Have fun!