Great Western Trail

For several years I have been eyeing the completion of the Great Western Trail, a literal trail that will run from Canada to Mexico through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona. Once completed, it will rival the Appalachian Trail in length and destroy it in grandeur.

The Utah portion of the trail follows mainly existing trails and is more than 90% complete. My goal is to hike the whole thing (in short sections, of course) over the next ten to fifteen years. The trail runs from Bear Lake, to the Wasatch near Logan, to the Uintah's southeast of Utah County, through the Manti-LaSal National Forest, and down to the Dixie National Forest. As you can see, even the Boy Scouts are jumping on board with a badge.

The hikes will be awesome. This year I hope to hike 40 to 50 miles worth of the trail, all of them along the Wasatch Front. I'd love some company on various segments of the trail if any one is interested. If any of you are also interested in the goal of hiking the Utah portion of the GWT, let's talk. And if you are not, like I said, I'd love some hiking buddies for individual sections of the trail.

I am planning on hiking the Peterson segment of the GWT sometime over the 4th of July weekend. It will be about 14 miles long, from the Layton/Kaysville area to the Centerville/Bountiful area. This section runs mostly along the crest of the Wasatch mountains in Davis County and includes a stop at Thurston Peak, the highest point in both Davis and Morgan counties. I am predicting that it would take about 12 hours to do.

If any of you want to hike it with me, let me know. I will include more details in the coming days--I am currently studying the topographic maps of the area. Many of these trails are less-known and it takes some work to figure them out.

If you want to learn more about the Great Western Trail, check out a few of my links on this blog.