Filling dangerous gaps in the Continental Divide Trail may require congressional action

The Continental Divide Trail stretches more than 3,100 miles from Canada to Mexico, but 44 years after Congress authorized its creation, it still has 160 miles of gaps. Rep. Joe Neguse has been trying to fill them through congressional action, and he visited one of them this week, a potentially dangerous stretch at Muddy Pass in northern Colorado near Rabbit Ears Pass.

On that 15-mile section, CDT hikers must walk along U.S. 40 and Colorado Highway 14. Neguse went there Wednesday to dramatize the need for completing the trail.

“To see that portion of the road — some of the busiest highways in northwest Colorado that 10, 20, 50, 70 hikers are traversing as they attempt to walk the full extent of the Continental Divide Trail — from a safety perspective this is really important,” Neguse said in an interview following his visit.

The Muddy Pass gap is the only one on the CDT in Colorado. There are four in Montana, one in Wyoming and six in New Mexico.