Man Skateboards From Mexico to Alaska on the Continental Divide: “It’s Honestly the Worst Way To Thru-Travel”

Justin Bright’s packing checklist seems to be like a typical thru-hiker’s: a totally loaded, beat-up backpack, a solar hoodie sporting its justifiable share of holes, Lone Peaks hanging on by a thread, and a freestanding tent. Compared to hikers on any lengthy path, Bright blends in simply — apart from the skateboard and helmet strapped to his pack. He filters water, units up camp, and hikes when he has to, however most days, ahead progress comes on 4 wheels.

In 2025, Bright grew to become the primary individual to skateboard from Mexico to Alaska.

From June to September, he traveled north alongside the backbone of the Continental Divide, touring by New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.

The northern terminus of the CDT marks the tip of a journey for northbound Continental Divide Trail thru-hikers. But for Bright, it solely marked the midway level. After reaching the Canadian border, he continued west by Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon earlier than lastly crossing into Alaska. In simply 4 months, Bright coated roughly 4,200 miles, ending barely in time to outrun the approaching northern winter.

His journey displays how carefully thru-skating mirrors thru-hiking and the way useful classes will be discovered from a quiet rhythm constructed round ahead progress and life exterior.

Despite the completely different modes of journey, the mindset is almost equivalent. Long days. Deep solitude. Moments of doubt. Unexpected generosity. Those components would floor many times all through Bright’s journey, shaping not simply how he traveled, however how he skilled every mile.

Justin Bright (left) and his route from Mexico to Alaska. Photo taken by Joey Sackett. Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

Meet Justin Bright: Hiker Trash on Four Wheels

Many hikers hint their origin tales again to watching early YouTube personalities like Darwin and Dixie. For Bright, that spark got here from watching a self-made documentary by skate-packing legend Paul Kent, who skated by the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia.

“As a kid from Florida who grew up in a very urbanized part of the state, I didn’t really grow up camping or experiencing real wilderness,” he stated. “Watching those videos, I saw these guys using a skateboard as a way to see those places… that’s a combination of some pretty cool stuff.”

Bright was drawn to tales of individuals pushing their limits by unconventional technique of journey. Over time, that inspiration developed right into a perception system rooted in sluggish motion, self-support, minimal influence, and sleeping exterior evening after evening.

Those values sit on the coronary heart of long-distance journey in any type, which helps clarify how Bright strikes so seamlessly between thru-hiking and thru-skating.

He has thru-skated the size of Florida and New Mexico, was one of many first folks to thru-skate the Natchez Parkway National Scenic Trail, and thru-hiked the Pinhoti Trail, the Colorado Trail, and the Oregon Coast Trail. These accomplishments laid the groundwork for his monumental thru-skate from Mexico to Alaska and guided his selections to maintain the journey genuine to the core values of thru-travel. 

Cowboy tenting within the southern part of his journey. Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

Hike Your Own Hike (or Skate Your Own Skate)

Whether shifting on foot or on 4 wheels, thru-travel begins with the identical want to flee prescribed routines and reclaim autonomy. For many individuals, the pull towards lengthy trails has much less to do with the vacation spot and extra to do with the liberty discovered alongside the way in which. That mindset first took root lengthy earlier than Bright ever imagined skating to Alaska.

As a child, skating gave him a way of independence earlier than he might drive. “That was just how I got around. If I wanted to escape to a friend’s house, it was a six-mile skate. Without realizing it, I kind of got that mode in my head of, ‘I can push.’ It’s not even like you think of distance as a discipline of skating. At least I didn’t until I was much older.”

His journey north from Mexico to Alaska deepened that early sense of freedom. “Some of those passes and roads, I knew I was the first skateboard on. It’s exciting because there’s nobody to tell you what’s right or wrong except for your own heart.”

Bright on the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, Montana. Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

Following that intuition formed the route he created. Bright wished the journey to really feel dynamic slightly than confined to pavement. “I really wanted to blend it. I didn’t want to be a pavement princess the whole time. I want to skate dirt. I want to skate gravel. I want to walk sometimes. I want to throw my board on my pack and sweat like a pig and have fun with it.” 

This sentiment mirrors a well-recognized path mantra: “hike your own hike.” That could imply taking alternates, aspect quests, or selecting the tougher path just because it feels proper. People drawn to lengthy trails and thru-travel aren’t essentially going to take the simple route. It’s chasing that sense of journey that feels essentially the most uninhibited. 

Staying Where Your Feet Are

The sense of freedom alone isn’t sufficient to hold somebody by 1000’s of miles, although. The early days in New Mexico examined Bright’s resolve instantly. The warmth was relentless, water was scarce, and morale dropped quick. “The only reason I kept going was just staying where my feet are. On that day, that’s where I am. I’m never gonna be in Alaska when I’m in New Mexico.”

This mindset is one hikers know properly. Standing on Springer Mountain, it does no good to fixate on Katahdin. Progress solely occurs by staying current and taking the subsequent step, or in Bright’s case, the subsequent push.

The additional north Bright traveled, the extra important it grew to become to remain current because the bodily calls for and a narrowing climate window started so as to add stress to his journey.

Hard fought miles alongside the Alaska Highway (Alcan) to beat the frigid Yukon winter. Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

What Happens When the Fun Runs Out

Without fail, long-distance journeys finally change into much less about enjoyable and extra about stamina. Mental and bodily endurance is required to press on when instances are robust and morale is low. Choosing to press on regardless of obstacles is on the coronary heart of thru-travel.

This sentiment confirmed up time and time once more on Bright’s most up-to-date thru-skate. Bright confronted a tough deadline from the start. Winter within the far north would make the route impassable. October was the most recent he might end, and even September carried the chance of snowstorms and frozen roads.

It took practically two months for him to achieve Canada, a monumental accomplishment by itself. Realizing that meant he was solely midway completed was sobering. From that time on, there was no room for relaxation days or half efforts. To have an opportunity at ending, he wanted to common practically 45 miles a day.

A second of peace and reflection on the US/Canada border. Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

At the Canadian border, he thought, “I’m gonna do it. I’m just gonna keep going every day. But there was no time left for zeros. It would be devastating to make it all that way and be forced to stop because of frozen roads or single-digit temps.” In his most difficult moments, Bright discovered the resolve to maintain going by spending time with others.

Community Without a Trail

On lengthy trails, many hikers comment that their favourite a part of the expertise was the folks they met alongside the way in which. Trail cities rally round hikers and assist to maintain spirits excessive. But what occurs when there isn’t any “trail” to observe?

Bright came upon that the sense group doesn’t rely upon a delegated path. He discovered fellowship and reference to the locals he met as he skated by city. “You don’t have automatic camaraderie with someone or something in common. I would see people all the time, and they’re usually very flavorful folks; they’ve got a lot of character. It wasn’t an instant friend, but (connection) in a different way.” 

Stopping to admire the glaciers on the Icefields Parkway. Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

Unlike established trails, Bright’s route supplied no shelters, path cities, or path angels. Yet generosity appeared constantly. Strangers supplied recommendation on water sources, safer roads, and alternate routes. Others gave him rides, cooked meals, or opened their properties for the evening.

In Tok, Alaska, a lady nervous about him surviving the chilly evening and handed him thick gloves and a heat balaclava. Deep within the Yukon, in a tiny village named Haines Junction, a household invited him inside for dinner and a heat place to sleep. People typically stopped him on the highway to ask what he was doing and supply assist, nevertheless they may.

Bright even shaped a friendship together with his childhood inspiration, skating icon Paul Kent. When Bright neared Calgary, he grew inexplicably ailing. Paul picked him up, gave him a spot to remain whereas he recovered, and even skated with him for a number of days when Bright was properly sufficient to journey once more. 

Without even realizing it, these folks grew to become path angels. They weren’t on a longtime path or trying to join with the mountain climbing group. They had been simply going out of their technique to do one thing type for his or her fellow human. 

A stranger stops to test on Bright alongside the Alcan. Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

From Dawn ’til Dusk: Total Immersion in Beautiful Places

Between cities, rides, and temporary moments of connection, Bright continued returning to the quiet that first drew him exterior. Total immersion in nature, not simply the surroundings, is what adjustments folks throughout lengthy journeys. Extended time outdoor has a manner of reshaping how we expertise the panorama and the lens by which we see issues.

Bright’s route adopted the Continental Divide by locations many hikers solely dream of seeing. Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier National Park, and the Icefields Parkway unfolded day after day beneath his wheels. He pushed his board up excessive mountain passes, filtered water from glacier-fed streams, and watched the northern lights dance throughout the Yukon sky.

Board strapped to Bright’s pack whereas mountain climbing by Glacier National Park. Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

It is one factor to go to these locations briefly. It is one other to dwell absolutely immersed from morning till evening. Over time, the surroundings stops feeling like one thing you cross by and begins feeling like one thing you belong to. Long stretches alone gave Bright time not simply to watch the land, however to mirror on the character of the journey itself. 

“It’s kind of silly, this thing we do. But it’s all about what it means to you. It’s not about tagging the pretty monument at the end … It’s about everything that happened on the way and how you got there.”

Bad Pavement Never Lasts

“At the end of the day, skating is still fun,” Bright stated. “It’s honestly kind of the worst way to thru-travel, but when it’s good, it’s really good.”

Paul Kent as soon as described the Alcan Highway to him this manner: “Eighty percent will be the worst skating you’ve ever done. Ten percent will be manageable. And ten percent will be the best skating of your life. That ten percent,” he stated, “makes everything else worthwhile.”

The finish of the Alaska Highway and Bright’s 4,200-mile journey. “The Alcan ends, I end.” Photo courtesy of Justin Bright.

The lesson mirrors life on path. Hikers spend extra time slogging throughout mud, trudging by torrential downpours, and swatting at mosquitoes than they do standing on summits.

“Bad pavement never lasts, and good pavement never lasts either,” Bright mused. If you possibly can keep affected person, one thing higher finally seems that makes the wrestle worthwhile. We’re reminded that the one fixed is change, and all we are able to management is our outlook.

Forward Is Forward

At their core, thru-hiking and thru-skating share the identical ethos. Both invite folks to maneuver slowly by the world, depend on themselves, and stay current by discomfort, doubt, and surprise. Bright’s journey from Mexico to Alaska could also be unprecedented, however the motivation behind it’s deeply acquainted.

It is similar pull that brings hikers to trailheads and retains them strolling north day after day. His route reminds us that the center of thru-hiking has by no means been in regards to the path itself, however about selecting to dwell merely, transfer deliberately, and keep open to regardless of the journey provides. No matter how ahead progress is made, whether or not on foot or 4 wheels, the center of the journey stays the identical.

All photos, together with featured picture, courtesy of Justin Bright.