Where Are the Rocky Mountains?One of the most impressive accomplishments that a hiker can achieve in the United States is completing the Triple Crown, a challenging collection of incredibly long hikes. There are three hiking trails that come together to make the Triple Crown: the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. The Appalachian Trail is more than 2,190 miles long and runs from Maine all the way down to Georgia. The Pacific Crest Trail winds through Washington, Oregon, and California, and is 2,653 miles long. The Continental Divide Trail (CDT) stretches about 3,100 miles through the Rocky Mountains from the border of Canada to the border of Mexico. Fewer than eight hundred people have managed to complete all three of these hikes, and the CDT is considered to be the most challenging. Fewer than half of all people who attempt to hike this trail actually complete it.
One of the reasons the CDT is so difficult to hike is because the entire route runs along the Rocky Mountains. The mountains have rocky, uneven trails and steep climbs that are challenging even for experienced hikers. The weather is also very unpredictable, with high winds and lightning frequently chasing travelers off the trail. It takes most hikers about six months to complete the hike. However, the trail passes through twenty-one wilderness areas, three national parks, and one national monument. So the three-thousand-plus miles are filled with some of the most stunning landscapes in North America—and the world.
If you decided to hike the CDT, you would cover only a fraction of the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains run up into Canada for one thousand more miles through the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. (A province in Canada is similar to a state in the United States.) In fact, the Rocky Mountains are part of a collection of mountain ranges that run from Alaska all the way down to the tip of South America. This is why many call the Rocky Mountains the backbone of North America.
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