Hiking the entire length of the Continental Divide Trail in Montana is hard enough. Jaden and Genevieve (DeLorme) Attard, both 25,  added another degree of difficulty, because after a long day of hiking, they broke out their canvasses, paints and brushes and would knock out a plein air painting or two on most days.

As one might imagine, the Attards are no ordinary couple. Both are accomplished artists and super fit to boot. Gen grew up in Columbia Falls and ran cross country for the Wildcats in high school, while Jaden went to Flathead and has an art degree from Montana State University. Gen is an avid painter and has a degree in biology. She’s sold her works at regional shows and markets for years.

Married two years, Jaden said he’s been thinking about the Continental Divide Trail since junior high and high school. He did a talk on it in ninth grade. Gen already had hiked 1,900 miles of Pacific Crest Trail before, so she knew all too well the rigors of through-hiking.

They loaded up their paints, tents, food and supplies and started out on the south end of the CDT  June 24 at Reas Pass on the Montana-Idaho border. The weather was miserable and they got snowed on. 

Over the course of the summer, they traveled about 1,000 miles they figured, and both did 48 paintings a piece.

Jaden works in water color and Gen in acrylic.

There were many “side trips” along the way. 

It’s typical for CDT hikers to have a “trail” name and Gen’s was “Frog,” from the children’s book, “Frog and Toad” while Jaden’s was “Sidequest.”

By CDT hiker standards, they took their time, hiking about 17 miles a day (a typical CDT hiker does 20-plus mile days, but most are trying to do the entire 3,100-mile journey from Canada to Mexico, so they have to keep up a brisk pace in order to finish before snow flies).

They would find a spot they liked, and then paint the scene. 

Jaden jumped into just about every lake he saw, Gen recalled.

They also took many photos. There were many memorable vistas, but they said they enjoyed the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier National Park the most.

In one section of the Bob, they didn’t see anyone for three days. 

In Glacier, Jaden hiked in the Belly River for the first time and his father, Tony, went with them to the border. Their parents and friends helped them with resupplies and logistics. Their longest day was 34 miles and included one of the worst sections of the trail as well, a miserable little yo-yo hike in the Badger Two Medicine that was rife with blowdown.

The Belly is an alternate route to the border, as the main route to Waterton was closed due to bears. Because of bear and other closures, they had to hop around in Glacier a bit, doing chunks of the trail here and there and not necessarily in order.

On Sept. 5, they completed their journey. On the last day they saw two black bears. The only bears they saw for the whole trip.

An opening night show of the artwork is Saturday, Sept. 19 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Uptown Hearth on Nucleus Avenue and then the works will be available for viewing until Oct. 3 at Persimmon Gallery next door.

Most paintings are relatively small, about 7-by-10 or smaller. They couldn’t take larger canvases, they quickly discovered, as they would get damaged in the pack.

The two aren’t taking much of a break. They ran the RUT Mountain Trail race last week, a 50K event.