Trailing along — Hiker has run out of high points, now tackling long trails

What do you do for an encore when you've already bagged Utah's and the nation's highest mountains? If you're Winford "Dub" Bludworth of Salt Lake City, then your next logical challenge is long-trail backpacking.

Bludworth was probably the first in Utah to hike all 29 of the state's county high points back in the early 1990s. He also hiked 49 of the 50 state high points in the United States, narrowly missing a successful hike to the top of Alaska's Mount McKinley.

A carpenter by trade, Bludworth, 66, retired in 2000. He grew up in Galveston, Texas — ironically, one of America's flattest areas. In 1966, he moved to Alaska and got into technical mountain climbing and reached several of that state's unclimbed snow-covered peaks, although not Mount McKinley.

He then got away from technical mountain climbing and moved to Utah in 1978. But it wasn't until 1980, when he hiked Kings Peak, that he got into hiking.

Six years later, he decided climbing each county's high point would be a worthwhile adventure. He's associated with the Highpointers Club, a national group seeking to climb the high points in all 50 states.

"I still do a little alpine mountaineering (peak bagging). But I mostly long-trail hike," Bludworth reports.

"I haven't done very much in Utah since I took up long-trail hiking. I am also big into 'grandpawing,' so I have worked out a system that works out perfectly for me. I spend several weeks grandpawing, then several weeks long-trail hiking, back and forth between the two."

"My favorite long trail is the Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota," Bludworth said.

He saw bear, wolf, moose, deer, beaver and more.

"I even saw a couple of big freighter ships on the lake. It is hard to say which trail is my second favorite. They are all so great, and your experience at the time makes a difference."

He almost always goes alone.

"Sometimes my brother or a friend or someone goes with me. I welcome others. I am quite comfortable alone in the wilderness. I am also comfortable in Manhattan," he said.

Bludworth figures he's hiked/backpacked some 9,000 miles since 2001.

He has now hiked all of the following trails — with approximate miles listed. Just looking at the list is exhausting.

• Vermont's long trail, Vermont, 170 miles

• Allegheny trail, West Virginia, 330 miles

• Bartram trail, Georgia and Carolinas, 120 miles