Great Divide Expedition

[DaveInDenver]

To visualize what I meant by following the real divide vs walking it vs what you can do mechanically or motorized.

This is the actual CDT that you can backpack or horsepack shown against the hydrological divide.



This is my working second revision motorized route. I did not try sticking to easy roads but only ones that should be full size legal. Some of this is too hard IMO to drive as a through-route and what of the middle sections I did was mixed 4x4 and MTB. This is more suited to a close knit group with more like 10 days dedicated. There's bound to be doubling back and route finding.



This is the route that the Great Divide MTB race follows. They have a bias for gravel (e.g. not technical mountain biking) and ease of supply. I'd suggest this could be a good route as a club run but it's just not well aligned to the Continental Divide. It would get the state line to state line part off pavement for a larger group in a few days.



To get a bit more context, this is the open to MTB Colorado Trail vs hydrological divide. I leveraged some of this since I had first hand experience on how it avoided Wilderness but as a route it's not suitable for 4WD OHV planning purposes. Also doesn't assist with the reservation around Four Corners.

 

[DanielChase]

Yes, I had done some maps and routes but there were a few issues with leaving them publicly available. I've re-traced much of my intended route from Leadville and south via truck or MTB, some over by Gunnison via dirt bike, over the last year and some. I have not been north of RMNP since 2017 and did not check hyper accurately (mostly just verifying the USFS map route numbers exist) from Del Norte to the N.M. state line. My concern was to get a better idea of Aspen to Lake City

I ran into more spots I had to work around than I expected. It'll be a challenge with a large number of trucks logistically and will require a fair amount of detouring on pavement and improved roads. I kind of dropped the ball until I knew more. There's some sections where a group of 10 is no problem but there'll be lots of #OLAF and side-by-sides to contend with. Others where corraling 2 or 3 trucks is going to be headache trying to camp and do the through drive. It will depending on how much of a stickler one is for following the actual hydrological Divide not on foot or horse.

Thanks Dave! I’d bet money that it’ll be a very small group come time to ship out