American skateboarder Justin Bright is more than 2,600km into an attempt to skate from Mexico to Alaska along a route he designed himself. The 6,760km line follows the Continental Divide and relies heavily on backroads, dirt roads, and local advice.
Bright began the journey in June. His most recent update from November 7 places him in northern Montana, near the Canadian border. He aims to finish in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Bright’s route. Photo: Justin Bright
The Continental Divide is a natural marker across North America that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific from those that drain into the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. This invisible line runs from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic. Along that line run the Rockies, as well as Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.
The St. Petersburg, Florida native designed his route along the Divide after finding no record of anyone skateboarding through the United States via the Rocky Mountains. His planned line intentionally seeks “forested two-lanes and remote gravel mountain passes that hug the Divide,” though he notes that it frequently gets “modified based on locals’ knowledge or my gut.”
Those on-the-fly tweaks have led to “sidequests” that have become a staple of his updates: unplanned dirt road detours, concert invitations, and brief brushes with local law enforcement.
New Mexico and Colorado
Bright’s journey opened with punishing heat in southern New Mexico. After his first 400km or so, Bright reached the town of Madrid in July, where he nearly quit but was revitalized by the small desert community. “The genuine love and connection gave me life. Not quittin’ yet,” he wrote.
From there, he climbed into northern New Mexico and pushed toward Colorado.
On the road in Ciudad Juarez. Photo: Justin Bright
Bright entered Colorado in mid-July and crossed the San Luis Valley’s 200km, boarding past the state’s high peaks. He traded stories with locals, including a man who once cycled from New Mexico to Washington State “in 16 days to chase love.”
Fremont Pass near Leadville, at 3,449m, became the high point of the entire route. The approach required a 50km climb followed by a final ascent into Leadville, America’s highest city.
After frequent reunions with friends and trail acquaintances, he continued north across the Rockies, skating over 80km on his biggest days.
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Wyoming
Bright rolled into Wyoming around late August or early September. In the town of Baggs, a local warned him that his planned line was dangerously devoid of water. “Yer gone die, son,” he predicted. Bright subsequently rerouted.
By mid-September, he reached the famous mountain town of Jackson, where a stranger handed him a ticket to see a band who were in town.
“Lady Luck has been following me all across Wyoming!” he wrote. The night ended with a roof over his head, offered by a photographer he admired but had never met.
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Encounters with Tour Divide gravel racing cyclists highlighted the variety of human-powered travel on the same roads, with cyclists covering up to 305km a day as Bright pushed much more modest distances on his skateboard.
Crossing Yellowstone
In late September, Bright skated into Yellowstone National Park. A ranger stopped him after less than 20km and informed him that skating was prohibited. “My only option to cross Yellowstone would be to hike,” he wrote.
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With no overnight permits available, he walked across the caldera on the Continental Divide trail, covering back-to-back 40km+ days to circumvent the permit zones. Near the north boundary, he managed to “skate a sneaky 33 kilometers” when rangers happened to drive by while he was standing still. More trouble.
Montana
Bright reached Montana in October. “To be quite honest, my route through Montana is becoming more of a patchwork of local advice than the original line I drew through these roads,” he wrote. “Grizzled characters steer me toward dirt paths and sidequests.”
One evening in a local bar featured “Goat Man,” who recounted shooting a grizzly that attacked his dog, and Jesse, a drunken friend who “stormed onto Main Street to settle a fight.”
Bright’s early November post places him in northern Montana, still following local recommendations through mining towns and mountain valleys as he closes in on the Canadian border.
