29er for The Great Divide?

[James]

Anyone have experience riding a 29 inch wheeled mountain bike.  I have done some touring on road bikes, and quite a bit of mountain bike riding, and now I have the itch to do some mountain bike touring.  I was considering building up a Surly Karate Monkey with drop bars and no suspension (basically a cross bike that I could put really wide tires on).  By the way I have a bob trailer, so rack fit is not an issue.  Any thoughts?

[freetour]

That's what I use (w/flat bars and bar ends).