Published October 10, 2025 02:11PM
When the U.S. government announced it would establish a 100,000-acre National Defense Area in the southern reaches of New Mexico earlier this year, hikers had questions about how it would affect access to the southern terminus of the Continental Divide Trail, which fell inside of it. Late last month, we finally got an answer when the Continental Divide Trail Coalition (CDTC), announced that new restrictions would require hikers to apply for a permit and pass a background to visit the terminus and the southernmost 1.1 miles of the trail, and that hikers who weren’t U.S. citizens would not be able to secure one.
The situation continues to evolve—since we shot this video, for example, the CDTC has announced that some non-citizen hikers may be able to visit the terminus with a government sponsor and an escort. Here’s what we know about the situation at the end of one of America’s most famous trails.
Over the past two weeks, the situation at the southern terminus of the Continental Divide Trail has changed in some important ways. If you’re planning on heading there either as part of a thru-hike or a section hike, there are a few things you need to know.
Earlier this year, the US government established what it called a National Defense Area along a section of the US-Mexico border in New Mexico. This included about 100,000 acres of land, the control of which it transferred to the US Army for three years. Importantly, the southern terminus of the CDT is within that area.
At the time, there was some speculation that this new designation might affect how hikers accessed the southern terminus of the CDT. However, we didn’t get confirmation of that until recently. On September 30th, the Continental Divide Trail Coalition announced that new restrictions would require hikers headed to the terminus to apply for and receive a new permit from the US Army.
Applying for this permit is relatively easy from what we understand. The process takes about 10 minutes. Hikers need a passport-style photo and a Real ID, such as a state driver’s license or a passport. Generally speaking, hikers have heard back in just a few days about the permit, though technically it could take up to three weeks. And from what we understand, the current government shutdown isn’t supposed to affect processing.
However, there are a few important caveats. First of all, the permits are only available to US citizens. That means that hikers traveling from outside the US or people here on visas are effectively barred from the southern terminus for the time being. It’s also not clear how people with felonies or other issues that might pop up on a background check are going to be affected by this. We don’t know if they’ll be able to get the permits or not. And it’s worth mentioning that while we don’t know for sure how carefully authorities will be checking for permits, anyone caught in the area without necessary permissions could face anything from fines to jail time. [Editor’s Note: Since we recorded this video, the CDTC has updated its guidance to specify that non-U.S. citizens may be able to access the NDA with a government sponsor and escort, though the process to secure that permission is still unclear. The U.S. Army’s application page also now lists factors that could result in a failed background check, including a felony conviction within the past 10 years or presence on a government terrorism watchlist.]
For hikers who are not eligible for a permit or who don’t want to apply for one, there are other options for doing a border-to-border CDT thru-hike. The CDTC has not released an official detour around the area. However, there are ways to access the border legally through adjacent state trust lands. All it takes is a fairly easily obtainable permit from New Mexico.
In the meantime, we’ll continue monitoring this story for Backpacker. Check back for updates. You can also look for the latest on these restrictions on the CDTC’s website.
