The CDT is the Triple Crown trail that still asks you to navigate. Alternates are part of the design. So is weather that does not care about your schedule.
Halfway Anywhere’s 2025 CDT hiker survey (144 responses): 94.9% not a first long trail, average base weight about 14 lb. Respondent completion was 92.3% — a hiker-report number that describes people who already knew this dance.
Halfway Anywhere 2025 CDT hiker survey →- Navigation. A phone map is not a substitute for knowing where you are when the line on the screen and the tread disagree.
- Water and weather. New Mexico can be a desert carry. Colorado can be a snow year. Montana can close in smoke. The CDT is three states of “it depends.”
- First trail?. Usually no. Time on the AT or PCT first is the pattern, not a gatekeeping rule. The data is the data.