A scan of a historic Continental Divide Trail Register from May 1990 to May 2013.
Up and down the long trails of America, registers have served as a way of jotting down thoughts, information, and news for both fellow hikers in the area and for posterity.
These registers are often simple notebooks left in shelters, at the beginning and ends of trails, post offices, hostels or other “pilgrimage stops” along the way on the long hiking trails.
Tradition has it that once a register is filled, the last person to fill the register mails back the register to the person who originally left it.
On the Appalachian Trail, these registers are numerous and often filled quickly
On the Continental Divide Trail, the trail registers are far and few between and, until recent years, have not been filled that quickly.
About a month ago, my friend Pete was in Cuba, NM of his CDT thru-hike. He called me and said that a twenty-three year old CDT register was just filled. By coincidence, Judi Hageman was about to retire. Judi Hageman was head of the post office in Cuba, NM and has seen many CDT travelers over the years. She wished to get the CDT register to its rightful owner.
To make a long story short, the person who placed the original register was out backpacking and could not be reached.
I received the register in the interim. Through a local copy shop, had the register scanned and made available online.
The register is in the form of a 100 DPI PDF and can be read here.
This register contains many years of trail history. Quite a few names are familiar.
You can see the trail evolve, too. From a little known and thru-hiked route more than two decades ago to a more popular and established trail, today.
Many thanks to the following people for making this register available:
- Peter Sustr for making everyone aware of the journal in the first place
- Catherine Stratton who graciously allowed the scanning in of the journal before mailing it back
- Karen Berger for her wonderful account of the journey in her book Where The Waters Divide
- The many volunteers over the years who made the CDNST possible
- Judi Hageman for being a friendly face to many CDT travelers over the years. Thanks so much for making sure that this register was preserved for the community.
The pdf of the journal was awesome! Page 101 was a real cool slice of time. I also liked “Rollin Dirty” 🙂
Thanks,
Pretty cool slice of CDT history for sure. 🙂
Thanks for the trip down memory lane……….great reading!
Best of luck to Judi on the upcoming new chapter in her life!
It was fun to go back and read the entry I posted. Thanks for saving this bit of history online.
Thank You for the kind comments. Just to clarify: The Cuba Post Office Postmaster that was in charge when this Register began in 1990 was Fabiola Atkinson….dedicated Postal employee for over 30 years.
Thanks to all of the determined and dedicated hikers, we were both able to share the adventure!
Special Thanks to Pete & Paul for making this shared history happen
Judi, Thanks to you and Fabiola both as well. The CDT hiking community appreciates it!
Don’t remember any trail registers when I did the CDT IN 1977.
I was born in the mid-1970s..I don’t remember anything from 1977. 😉
Thanks so much for getting this trail journal back to us! What a shock to be reminded of it, so many years after we left it there. I’m glad it was scanned for all to see. A trail register that took 23 years to fill and made it back home again — Now that is trail magic!
And thank you!!!! What a wonderful treasure to see.