Flat Stanley and Billy on the CDT in 2010: Ultra Lightweight Trail Blazers

In 2010, CDTA launched phase 1 of the Flat Stanley on the CDNST Program, a specialized model that highlights the geography, history and uniqueness of the Trail and its nearby communities. We piloted the program with a photo contest to encourage youth and families to get outdoors on and near the Trail with Flat Stanley and his friend Flat Billy (mtn. goat). The program successfully engaged both youth and adults alike; we received pictures and stories from all ages in towns and cities near the CDNST and, even a couple of slideshows from a Ranger in Glacier National Park highlighting Flat Stanley and Billy’s adventures up and down the Trail! With all of these photos and stories, participants have helped with the ongoing creation (it will be 3,100 miles-so we need a lot of pictures!) of a CDNST “virtual hike” and have also introduced others to the beauty of CDNST and our “gateway” communities along the Trail. In a sampling of some pictures below, you can see youth, families, CDNST thru hikers, staff from our public lands and CDTA all took part in the fun of a CDNST adventure with Flat Stanley, which means they logged hundreds of miles on the CDNST, and over 15 towns near the Trail! Here are some examples of the adventures they had last year: First they started off in New Mexico and visited places like Hatchita and Pie Town.

Flat and Billy down in the Southern Terminus of New Mexico

They even took a break and provided coloring pages of themselves to kids at a bluegrass festival in Colorado.

Some youth showing off thier colored Flat Stanleys at the Bluegrass Festival

They also cheered volunteers on at a few of the 30+ trail projects in 2010.

A family of hikers at the NPLD project up in Grand Lake, CO

Moondance Adventures on Marshall Pass in Central Colorado

The following winners of the Photo Contest listed in the two categories below won a kid’s backpack from Osprey.

• Best Photo in a CDNST Community: Wendy Wegner, communities in Montana and New Mexico.


• Best Photo on the CDNST: Ryan and Russ Shean, in the Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming.

Ryan and Russ standing with their Stanley's in Wyoming. Billy is not in the picture because he took off and hid in a rock outcropping after smelling a mountain lion nearby. He averted near disaster with the mountain lion. See Ranger Wendy’s slideshow with music of the CDNST in Glacier National Park and the areas surrounding it, the beautiful and majestic National Park she is lucky to call home.

Ranger Wendy also created a slideshow of her visit along the CDNST in Yellowstone and New Mexico!

Flat Stanley and Flat Billy had so much fun in 2010; they are hitting the Trail again in 2011 to visit new places! Be sure to check our website in February for the next phase of Flat Stanley on the CDT; they will be stationed in backpacks along with fun activities at libraries in CDT “gateway communities”. In the meantime, you can still download the CDT Flats and get out there with them on the CDT or a nearby community. We have a couple more Osprey backpacks saved for our next contest... Visit www.cdtrail.org/getinvolved for more information and downloads of Flat and Billy the Mountain Goat.