Craig Learned
Home Dad on CDT 2004 2003 About Me
 
Al Learned (PCT '03), my father, hiked the Continental Divide trail (CDT) south from Waterton Park Canada to Antelope Wells New Mexico between June 13th and October 4th, 2005. He estimates he hiked 2,663 miles, being on the trail 114 days (plus 2 days false start and three days waiting for me at end).

Emails on Dad's progress:
Pre-email, Before Leaving, sent 6/8/05.
First email, Waterton to East Glacier, sent 6/18/05.
Second email, East Glacier to Helena, sent 6/26/05.
Third email, Helena to Leadore, sent 7/13/05.
Forth email, Leadore to South Pass City, sent 7/31/05.
Fifth email, South Pass City to Grand Lake, sent 8/17/05.
Sixth email, Grand Lake to 78 miles past Lake City, sent 9/7/05.
Seventh email, 78 miles past Lake City to Reserve, sent 9/26/05.
Completion email, Reserve to Antelope Wells, sent 10/10/05.

Hiking with Dad:
Pictures from Glacier National Park (6/11-6/14, 2005)
Pictures from Chief Joseph Pass to Bannock Pass (7/7-7/10, 2005)
Pictures from Steamboat Springs to Grand Lake (8/11-8/14, 2005)
Pictures from Lake City to 78 miles past Lake City in the San Juan Mountains (9/1-9/5, 2005)
Pictures from Pie Town to just past Reserve (9/24-9/25, 2005)
Pictures from The End (10/4/2005)
Pictures from the Celebration Party in Antioch (10/29/2005)

All CDT Hikers who attempted to complete the CDT trail in 2005 that LiAnna (who maintains Mark's website) and I know about. Hikers are listed in approximate descending order of completion date. Please e-mail me if you if you have additional information on any hiker that attempted to complete the CDT trail in 2005. Thanks!
  • Nomad - Completed Southbound hike 6/10 - 11/22 for 166 days on the trail.
  • Red Eagle - , Northbound, finished five month hike around 11/19.
  • Tommy & Razzu - Completed hike, 6/11-11/7 for a 150 days on the trail. Dad met Tommy, Razzu, and Mark just before East Glacier. A picture of Tommy & Razzu in Pie Town is here shown meeting cyclist Heidi riding the Great Divide Trail Bicycle route and more on a trike.
  • Gandalf - d-low and Dave/Leslie report he completed his Southbound hike he started last year, reaching Southern Colorado. He was last mentioned in a journal by Nomad near Dubois, Wyoming 8/10/2005.
  • d-low - Completed Southbound hike 6/30-11/2, four months and three days on the trail. Completed his Triple Crown and has some very memorable journal entries.
  • Brian & Lisa - Completed Southbound hike 6/11-10/30, 142 days. Another great journal.
  • Mark - Completed Southbound hike 6/11-10/30, 142 days. Has a wonderful web site and journal. Also mentioned here.
  • Buddha & Zack - Completed Southbound hike 6/10-10/19, four months and nine days on the trail. Buddha writes the most humorous journal on the trail.
  • Leslie & Dave - Completed flip hike 4/14-10/18 for a six month hike. Leslie and Dave take the prize for overcoming most mishaps this year.
  • Tater - Uncle Green Bean writes that Tater completed his skip around Southbound hike "'bout middle - late oct.". He was last mentioned on the web by Spur 40 miles south of Monarch Pass 9/2/2005. Tater hiked NM with Amit earlier in the year and has previously hiked the PCT twice and the AT once.
  • Homemade (Mike Kleps) - Completed Southbound hike 6/9-10/14, four months and five days on the trail with 19 days off the trail at Macks Inn for 109 days on the actual trail. Homemade carried a very light weight backpack at around 10 pounds base weight.
  • Squeaky - Completed Southbound hike 7/28-10/12 for 75 days 20 hours, as he started at 1:00pm and finished at 9:00am. He then started hiking the AT trail on the 14th of October in his attempt to hike the PCT, CDT, and AT in a single calendar year. He completed his extended hike on Thursday, 12/29. This means he completed the PCT, CDT, and AT in 239.5 days (almost 8 months) for 7530 miles (2655+2700+2175) for an all out average of 31.44 miles per day. Flyin' Brian, the only other person know to have hiked a calendar year Triple Crown, estimated he hiked 7,371 miles in 300 days or 24.6 miles/day. Squeaky hiked almost an additional 7 miles per day over tougher conditions. WOW!
  • Paul - Completed Southbound hike 6/7-10/11, four months and four days on the trail. Dad very much enjoyed hiking with Paul and seeing him again in town stops later on the trail. I also had the pleasure of meeting Paul.
  • Uncle Green Bean (Tim Grady) - Completed Southbound hike, maybe 7/1-10/10, 102 days. Also mentioned here, here and here. This is Uncle Green Bean's second CDT thru-hike and he has also hiked the PCT.
  • Jerrett - Completed Southbound hike 6/14-10/6, 115 days. Jerrett, the youngest solo CDT single season thru-hiker for 2005 at age 17, impressed other hikers, including my father, with his strength and ambition. Dad very much enjoyed hiking with Jerrett for a couple days in New Mexico.
  • Al - Completed Southbound hike 6/13-10/4, 114 days. My father is the oldest solo CDT single season thru-hiker for 2005 at age 68.
  • Savant - Completed Northbound hike 5/15-10/4, 143 days with few weeks off in Oregon late July/Aug. Posted valuable updates on CTD-L list such as this, this, and this one.
  • Mule (Gabe C) - Completed Northbound hike 4/30-9/24, 148 days. Member of Team Locus.
  • Porno (Jason P) - Completed Northbound hike 4/30-9/24, 148 days. Member of Team Locus.
  • Sausage (Brett W) - Completed Northbound hike 4/30-9/24, 148 days. Member of Team Locus.
  • Noodle (Todd B) - Completed Northbound hike 9/24. Start date not known but was in Pie town 5/24. Later became member of Team Locus.
  • Steady & Cliffhanger - Completed Northbound hike 9/23. Started hiking 1/27 in New Mexico and parts of Wyoming, took time off, and returned in June for 5 1/2 months total on trail. Completed in time to receive their Triple Crown plaques at the ALDHA-West gathering this year! They also hiked the PCT in 2003.
  • Huckleberry & Bertha (Jonathan & Beth) - Completed Flip hike 3/30-5/2 & 6/7-9/21, 141 days. Dad really enjoyed hiking with them for a few days.
  • Doug & Eric - Completed jump around hike 4/22-9/19, 151 days. Doug ate only raw foods during the hike.
  • Amit - Completed Flip hike 4/23-5/25 & 6/5-9/9, 130 days. Dad appreciated Amit's trail skills, and enjoyed hiking with him immensely. I also had the pleasure of meeting him. Ready has a write-up on through hiker Tater's impressions of Amit, 4th paragraph up from bottom.
  • Trauma and his dog Yoni - Completed Northbound skip around hike 5/17 - 8/30, 106 days. He then continued hiking on the GDT trail into Canada. Both Trauma and Yoni achieved Triple Crown status and Yoni is very likely the first Triple Crown dog. Trauma and Yoni are now attempting to hike 10,000 miles in 2006. He was also seen on the CDT by Ken and Marcia on their American Discovery Trail hike in Copper Mtn, CO, July 20th and mentioned by Bronner & Cactus in South San Juans late June, early July. Ferryman reported seeing him on the AT.
  • Pony Express - Completed Northbound hike 5/20-8/15, 88 days. Hiked the PCT in 2003 and AT in 2004, also at a very fast pace.
  • Han Solo (Jim Bennett) - Roger C reports he completed Northbound hike. He was suppose to start from Mexico around 5/7 and d-low mentioned he was around the Bitterroot Range July 25th. Jim Bennett made an entry in Squeaky's guestbook on 12/30/2005 where he congratulates Squeaky for breaking "my CDT record". No other information on Jim's hike is currently publicly known and he has not responded to emails.
  • Trippin Ant - Completed Northbound hike he began last year, 4/30-10/3/2004 & 6/24?-7/7/2005, 171 days. Hiked the PCT in 2003 and AT in 2002.

  • Nimblewill Nomad - Off trail at Silverthorne 6/22-9/3 for 74 days out of ~ 125 day Southbound hike. Only one year younger than Dad and has gone on some incredible hikes.


    • Other thru hikers that I saw mentioned in Journals and may or may not have completed include (partial list):
  • Manzanita (Kevin O'Leary), Southbound mentioned here. d-low reports Kevin had made it to Nita's in Pie Town, NM, earlier in the year. This would put him a few hundred miles from obtaining his triple crown.
  • Steve last mentioned by Spur Southbound flip near Silverthorne 9/13/2005. He needed to reach Cumbres Pass near the New Mexico border to complete.
  • Jerome last mentioned by Savant Southbound north of South Pass City and mentioned by Dave & Leslie in their Day 10 entry, 7/1/2005
  • Scott Vasterling/Griz, Greg
    • mentioned in Ginny's post

  • Total completions for the year are likely 38 or 39 as Manzanita and Steve are likely finished and Jerome may have finished. The days on the trail listed above is to give an indication of the type of hike each hiker went on and approximate time of year each hiker passed through each section of the trail. The CDT trail is not totally defined and every single group ends up taking a different route so there is no way to compare two groups and make reasonable specific assumptions based on hiking days. For some notable hikers, Spur, Southbound, 6/15-10/1 & 10/13-12/12, 170 days. Yogi, Southbound, 6/15-11/7, 146 days. Jonathan, the map creator, hiked Southbound 6/14-11/9/2001, 149 days. Flyin' Brian, single year triple crown hiker, hiked Southbound with New Mexico first, 3/30-4/20 & 7/24-9/27/2001, 88 days. Ginny and Jim Owen (Spirit Eagle) 5/30/-11/30/1999 for a Flip hike of 185 days. Jim posted that twin sisters in 1983 managed to spend 257 days on trail (more than 8 months) which may be the longest anyone has spent on the trail in a calendar year.


  • Bronner/Jan Novak and Cactus, mentioned here, emailed they hit a foot of snow in early October just past Leadore. More snow was forecast, and they are really looking forward to completing the trail in the future without having to trudge through fresh snow.
  • CaveDweller mentioned here hiked from the Mexican border to Lima Montana.
  • Rick mentioned in Brian and Lisa's journal here completed (will complete) a hike/bike combination.
  • Scott May/Skot Phrea, David, Gary Monk/Blaze, Rusted Root, Chris/Suge, Fred Gaudet, Merlin, Porter, Bankrobber, Mother Nature's Son, Spur, Ready, and Jessica/Wildflower, hiked on the CDT this year, adding to their sections they've hiked but have not yet completed (or recompleted) the trail. Most hope to hike on the CDT again next year.
  • Ken Baldrey and Kris Peterson, listed as section hikers that may complete this year, ended up hiking on some other incredible trails instead, including the JMT.
Links to pages where Dad is mentioned:
  • Nomad's Journal, third paragraph up from the bottom.
  • Buddha and Zack's Journal, second paragraph from bottom.
  • Mark's Journal, entry labeled "06/16/05: In Which I Limp into East Glacier" - 4th paragraph.
  • Huckleberry and Bertha's blog, 2nd to last paragraph.
  • Doug. The picture under the Tuesday, July 05, 2005 entry shows Dad, third body from the left. The entry itself should probably be taken with a grain of salt as Dad's telling of events is a bit different from the description in this journal.
  • Huckleberry and Bertha's blog, 8 lines down.
  • Spur, section hiker and married to Ready, fifth and forth paragraph up from bottom. Also brief mention here.
  • Ready, section hiker and married to Spur, sixth paragraph up from bottom, Also brief mention here.
  • Brian and Lisa list the thru-hikers Spur and Ready met on the trail before Spur and Ready met them.
  • The Kala Pointer Community Newspaper has article on Allan, page five.