This section couldn’t have been more different from the previous. Flat terrain, a general lack of water, and no trees. I didn’t realize how much I liked having trees around!
Day 67: (September 4th) 31.2 miles hiked
Still smiling, but this section just started.Wild horses! Apparently the BLM keeps track of the herds.Water source #1 for the day was inside that metal can. It was decent.Those clouds chased me all morning, then caught me after lunch. So much thunder, wind, rain, and hail. Yuck.Water source #2. Notice all the hoofprints around the edges. Bovine soup!Pitched my tent amongst the sagebrush to hide from the strong winds. Kinda worked!
Day 68: (September 5th) 34.5 miles
Red sky in the mornin’Wild horses. Curious, wild horses…they got pretty close!The trail follows a buried “petroleum pipeline”. Like oil?“Bocce in the Basin”. So you can play a game of bocce while you refill your water, of course.Where’s the beef? It’s all over southern Wyoming
Day 69: (September 6th) 33.7 miles
Some type of deer, they run REALLY fast. In a kind of bouncing way.More local wildlife!Cow skeleton? I wonder what animal out here preys on large cowsThe 60ft wide corridor was difficult to stay within, since the trail was only marked every halfmile or so, with no tread to follow.
Day 70: (September 7th) 4.6 miles hiked
I walked into Rawlins in the morning, had breakfast, checked into a motel and got cleaned up. That GD basin was so dusty! Then around lunchtime, Aquacam came into town, and we destroyed a lunch buffet at Pizza Hut. Life is good.
Walked into Rawlins, WY at 8am this morning.A Subaru with 2 kayaks, towing a camper with a Thule box? No, we’re not in Colorado yet!
Day 71: (September 8th) 5.8 miles hiked
Walking out of Rawlins that afternoon, I realized I had been at this exact spot before. I can’t remember why or when, but it’s the same intersection & cattle grate…weird.
Day 72: (September 9th) 38.0 miles
Getting an early 6:30am start. Gonna walk 38 miles today!The road seems to stretch on foreverDanger noodle!Made it here by lunchtime. I’d been looking at this pass for 4 hours.38 miles done! And just in time for sunset, too.
Day 73: (September 10th) 30.6 miles
I can see where I’m walking for the next few hours. But…mountains in the distance!Water!Huh? They have slutty cattle?One of my favorite lunch spots. It was a brand new culvert!In the afternoon, I finally left BLM land (and the Great Divide Basin), and entered the Medicine Bow NF. With trees!!
It was quite an experience to hike the Great Divide Basin, but it feels good to be hiking in trees again! And very soon…in Colorado!
-R
1 Comment
The horses look amazingly fit for such sparse grass. I also like trees!
The horses look amazingly fit for such sparse grass. I also like trees!