A Path Along the West’s History

When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out in 1804 on their two-year odyssey to map the territories and to find a direct water route across the North American continent, their biggest obstacle was natural--the “mountains of rock that rise up in the West.” Many who would soon follow Lewis and Clark to settle the West believed that Americans were providentially destined to cross the Rocky Mountains and conquer the entire continent in the name of the United States.

Today, sentiments far less grandiose than manifest destiny or the need for public resources impede completion of a trail running along those mountains of rock. The Continental Divide Trail that Congress approved in 1978 to stretch from Montana to Arizona is already an important route for modern-day expeditionaries as well as folks who just like to hike or bike. But three major gaps, totaling 1,000 miles of an intended continuous 3,100 miles, compromise the trail’s recreational as well as symbolic value.

The financial obstacles to finishing the trail seem less daunting than the political and legal ones. A private consortium has taken up where the federal funds have fallen short and expects to raise much of the $10 million still needed. But landowners and local officials along the unlinked stretches have mired the project in angry title disputes, unwarranted peevishness over the presence of hikers, and fears about Mexican drug runners using the trail.

Yet completion is important. This spectacular though often treacherous route--at one point the path crosses a 14,000-foot peak and at another spot one of the last grizzly bear habitats--would allow Americans to experience the West that the pioneers crossed. Its completion will be, as well, a powerful and tangible symbol of our national connectedness. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, which was completed in 1937, serves that purpose by following the longest chain of mountains in the East.

We Westerners should have the same.