Each and Every One of Us has a story that Connects Us to the Trail.

Last night, we heard from one of CDTC's Founding Board Member's Teresa Martinez.  She moved us with the following emotional and meaningful words and we wanted to share them with all of you.  Thank you for joining us in our movement, but let's keep dancing because we still have a long way to go.

Good Evening!

My name is Teresa Martinez and it is my extreme pleasure to welcome all of you tonight to the Official Launch of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, and the kick off of our Crowdfunding Campaign: Finding Our Way on the Continental Divide

Before I get too far along, I want to take this moment to thank and recognize some very important people here tonight with out whom, all of this would not be possible.

Our sponsors of tonight’s event: AC Golden Brewery, Great Harvest of Lakewood and Jim Hansman who is here tonight, Whole Foods of Governers Ranch, Cruz In, Deutsch Wines, Safeway, King Super, and the American Mountaineering Center Staff who have been just outstanding!

I also want to thank everyone who helped with stories, images, support, technical skills who helped get us here and ready for our countdown: Paul “Mags” Magnanti, Lawton “Disco” Grinter, Felicia “POD” Hermasillo, Jon Pierson, Jerry Brown, Kandler and Jessica Smith, Stephanie Friday-Allen, and David Dolton.


We have many partners here as well: The Trail Show, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Green Packin’, American Hiking Society, Leave No Trace, Bear Creek Survey, Wildlfire Pottery, Ula Equipment, Flagler Films, Erin Gallo, Tim Hogeboom, and two very special partners, the Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado and Colorado Trail Foundation who have been instrumental in keeping the volunteer effort alive along the Continental Divide over the past year.

And Finally: An amazingly huge Thank you goes to our amazing planning team, Jenny Saylor, Eric Herbst, Grace Herbison, Chris Smith, Jerry and Helga Bell, Josh and Lisa Shusko, Dana Foulks, Leanna Joyner, Jenny Gomez, and John Hildreth, Bryan Martin, Don Owen, Kerry Shakarjian, and our event planner- Sue Gallo, and campaign Manager-Jonathon Stalls.

As you can see there are a lot of people who have helped get us here.  And I think this shows you that this is a “we” not a “me” venture, its an “us” not an “I” movement.

And this is why each and everyone of you is important, because each and everyone of you is here because you care about the Trail, and because you have been impacted by your adventures on the CDT, because through those adventures you have discovered a passion that made you decide to come here and share this moment with us.

This is the same passion that has fueled our team since January of 2012, when the Continental Divide Trail Alliance ceased operations and we knew we had to take action so that the important work and accomplishments achieved by the Trail Community up to that point...that the countless hours and efforts of dedicated staff, volunteers, supporters, ……lovers of the CDT, would not be forgotten or lost and this most noblest of work would continue.

And each and every one of us has story that has brought us here.    Each and every one of us has a moment in which we saw our future and our future included a commitment to the CDT.  A commitment to the Barbarian Utopia that Benton Mackeye the grandfather of all National Scenic Trails spoke of in 1914, almost 100 years ago,

He spoke of a place where we could strip ourselves of all of this stuff.. technology, lights, smart phones, noise,...and get to the heart of the matter and rediscover or reconnect to the most fundamental of things that make us whole human beings, travelling in nature at 3 mph, with just the bare essentials on our backs, and learning to and having to rely and trust in humanity to provide our community of  support, and our basic needs.

Because when we experience this, we are all transformed and we are all reawakened to what is really important in life- experiencing the world around us, in a place that is like no other place on our planet and where we can connect to people who we otherwise might never experience.  A place where we discover kindred spirits out of strangers who become our family, and our sanity, in a world often inexplicably crazy and unpredictable.

We are transformed by the simplicity of good food, clean water, fresh air and amazing company all in the backdrop of amazing landscapes ....while walking in the footsteps of a history that in the very moment we place our feet on that same hollowed ground,  it becomes a part of our history, becomes a piece of us, and we become a piece of eachother.

When I was 18 years old, I was introduced to the Appalachian Trail.  It was my first weekend attending Virginia Tech and I went to an Outing Club meeting where I learned that the group was one of only two college groups that had official responsibility for maintenance of the A.T.  I had no idea what the A.T. was, but I thought it was cool to be one of only two college groups that maintained it. That weekend there was scheduled maintenance trip along the Trail from Bland County to Va 621, or Laurel Creek.  So we gathered our tools, paint for blazing, and we drove 1.5 hours to the trailhead where we would begin work. We got there and then we began walking.  As we were painting blazes, I asked theTrail Supervisor: "So what do the white blazes mean again?". And he said, "well if you head south you will end up in Georgia and if you head north , you'll end up in Maine, all you have to do is follow the white blazes, its the Appalachian Trail.  Volunteers are responsible for it, and now you are as a member of this club and you are officially an A.T. Maintainer!"

And in that moment, in that instant my whole world changed. My whole world became bigger and bolder than I ever imagined, because in that moment I went from a 18 year old college freshman, to someone who was a part of an amazing legacy that started in 1921, a history that led me to embark upon my own unconventional career, my own long distance journey, and one in which has beautifully, magically, led me here in this moment with you today.

Because in that moment I fell in love.  I fell in love and began a relationship with not only the A.T., but the entire national trails system.  In 1991, I went from a volunteer, to a member of Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s professional staff at the age of 21 , I hadn’t even graduated from Virginia Tech yet, but there I was,  one of the first assistant regional reps along the A.T., and only 1 of 5 field professionals.  While at ATC, I was lucky enough to have mentors who ranged from volunteers who had testified in Congress in 1968 on behalf of the National Trails System Act, to professional's like Don Owen who is in this room tonight, and the newest member of CDTC's board, who wrote the book on how to protect the A.T., and ultimately became the standard for all of our national trail protection efforts.

And miraculously, they were people willing to teach me everything they knew. And along the way, they instilled in me many fundamentals. The three most important of which were:

The importance of the volunteer- That our role was to always put the volunteer first, and that our job was to work ourselves out of one, because we had trained our volunteers so well, they no longer needed us.

The Second and equally important was that its about the Trail- what was in the best interest of the Trail, and nothing else. We had to always put the Trail first.

And Third, that volunteering along our national trails, is one of the truest forms of citizenship we could demonstrate- by engaging in the stewardship of our public lands, we engaged in the stewardship of the very foundations of what makes our country so unique and special- it is true democracy in action.

And these are the very same idals that we are focused on for the CDT and that are the foundations of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition.

And, the CDT needs us, I know this because I answered its call in 2007, and that call was so strong, that it was the only thing that could ever inspire me to leave my beloved AT Community after 15 years of commitment to its management.  And it is calling us again, because it needs all of us now more than ever. It needs us to care, to support, to engage.

It has called each and every one of us in this moment, to come together on its behalf to continue to nurture each other, as much as the Trail itself. To build a community, a family, that will always be there to keep the Trail in the heart, minds, and souls of all of us who care about this amazing resource.

Because the lifeblood of the CDT, like every other national Trail or Trail like the Colorado Trail, isn’t its landscape, but rather how we interact with the landscape and turn that experience into stewardship...into action....into passion....into commitment..... and into a force to be reckoned with and,

it gives us the courage to fight on its behalf to ensure that our experiences with the CDT, the very ones that brought us here today,  in this moment, are there for every generation who follows in our foot steps and that their experience isn’t just as good as ours, ...but better.

I would like to think that 80 years from now, a young 18 year old student steps foot onto the CDT for the first time, and in that moment her world will expand beyond her wildest dreams, ....in that moment her world will change forever,  and in that moment she is going to see her future...It will be a future, that is tied to the past.....and  a past that starts - right here , right now, on May 21, 2013, and of which inspires her to spend the next 25 years, or more, committed to not only the CDT, but the entire National Trail System, and in that moment......she is going to fall in love, and that love will give her the courage to embark upon a journey that introduces her to life lessons, shared with  amazing people, while in landscapes that bring her tears, and inspires her to fight so that it doesn’t fall on her watch either……

Thank you for coming tonight, for joining us, for sharing in this amazing moment, for being a part of the Trail’s history.... and its future, and most importantly,.....for helping us find our way along the Continental Divide.