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The original was posted on /r/Ultralight by /u/MountainsandMe on 2024-10-21 00:22:05+00:00.
Ever since Dan Durston’s off-trail trip through the Rockies I’ve been interested in continuing the project even further north.
This summer I hiked a similar route to Dan’s, heading north from the current end of the Great Divide Trail through roughly 100 miles of wilderness to Monkman Provincial Park. Then I resupplied and continued north for a further trip that had never been attempted before (to my knowledge). It’s a 97 mile fully off-trail route through the remote Misinchinka Ranges of the Canadian Rockies with 38000+ ft of vertical gain. I finished in 9 days and saw more bears than people (1 grizzly, zero people).
The mountains in this area are shorter than those further south which allows for lots of ridge walking. There are also beautiful alpine lakes everywhere. The downside is that there’s still some gnarly bushwhacking required. Hopefully with more exploration those bits can be avoided as much as possible.
This route ends at a paved road (HWY97/Pine Pass), which is the last trafficked access point before the main crest of the Rockies gets interrupted by the massive Williston Lake. So all combined, you’ve got the CDT, then the GDT, and these two off-trail routes which comprise a nearly complete traverse of the Rockies for as far as you could possibly hike them before hitting a natural barrier. I don’t think that would be possible to hike in a single season, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong!
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