Follow Strider's Rambles

Day 61

I felt so cozy in my sleeping bag and got a great night’s sleep. With no set mileage goal and two towns to explore, I set out eagerly. Wow, everything feels so much easier when my body is rested! I hiked out of pine covered foothills that made up the end of the Wind River Range and on into sagebrush filled desert. Before I crossed Highway 28, I got a selfie with a snow fence. I always see them when I’m driving I-25 so it was fun to see one up close.

Only a couple miles after the highway, the trail goes right through South Pass City, an old gold mining town. If I’d realized it was there, I’d have sent my resupply to it vs. Atlantic City. Oh well! It was a touristy town with a bunch of historic and well-preserved buildings. The general store staff were super nice and the hiker box had lots of food. At picnic tables out back, I ate lunch and charged devices. Beefcake arrived and we chatted while he ate leftover pizza. He’s faster than me so I was surprised to see him until I heard that he went into Lander.

About 1:30 pm I left the cute town behind and traversed more desert, walking a mix of trail, dirt roads, and cross-country terrain. It was only six miles to Atlantic City, including the 1.3 mile side trip from the CDT. I arrived to find the Desert Springs General Store closed due to a septic system emergency. However, really it’s a  tiny house run by the lady who lives next door and she opened up so that I could get my box. She also let me hang out on the porch and use her WiFi, plus refilled my water bottles. People are so kind!

My box had two surprise snacks from my sister  and the extra items that I requested. I’m lucky to have wonderful trail support from my family! I ate snacks, organized, took off my socks and shoes, did WiFi tasks, and ate dinner. When my battery pack charged to 75%, I set out for the CDT. It got dark an hour later so I walked via headlamp for a short distance. Pronghorn snort, which was eery until I determined the noise’s source. I pitched my tent on the flat shoulder of a very wide, dirt road, everywhere else looked too pokey for my tent floor and air mattress.

Day 62

Only one car went past all night. Shortly after I got underway, I was greeted by a colorful desert sunrise, from which rippled clouds spread across the sky. A couple herds of pronghorn bounded away through the sagebrush and wheat grass. I passed Oregon and California Trail markers. After eight miles, I crossed a bridge over the Sweetwater River and met a Great Divide Trail cyclist. He started a month ago from Banff.

The trail curved down to the bank of the river and I stopped to filter water and dry my tent of condensation. It was a pleasant river, shallow yet clear and lined with greenery. From it, I did a short uphill climb via dirt paths. Then it was back to dirt roads across the dessert. There were cows and occasional pronghorn.

Around noon, I spied a Greater Short-Horned Lizard. When I saw a second one I dropped my pack to examine it close up. I like their chubby, spike-edged bodies and dark brown stripes accented in white. We eyed one another. Then I mixed water into my lunch smoothie so the chia seeds could soak while I hiked a bit more. The third lizard I spotted was only as big as my thumb, while the first two would have filled my palm. I almost caught it.

Mid-afternoon I reached Weasel Spring and got water from the cistern. My goal was to do my first 30 mile day (on this trail). Early evening, I passed a creek that actually had pools of good looking water, once I’d gone past a dead cow and some live ones. I didn’t top off though because I was hurrying to reach a water cache before dark. Unfortunately the cache was empty, but my main goal was the adjacent camping. I’ll get water at a cow pond tomorrow. I did a 32.8 mile day!

Day 63

Overnight, there was a lot of lightning and a few rain drops. In contrast, the day dawned sunny and clear. It was one mile from the cache to the cow pond, which brought back Arizona Trail memories. The pond water looked decent, it filtered out yellow-ish with a slight, not gross, taste. However, my BeFree filter did not like the water, its output slowed to almost a drip near the end. It didn’t help that in my frustration I knocked over and lost part of one bottle. Altogether it took me ~45 minutes to gather and filter 2.2 liters, which was irritating, especially as it meant a late start to my hiking day.

The morning had more climbing than the previous day, though it was an overall gentle grade. Maybe it was yesterday’s length or just an off day because I felt a little low on energy and my pack felt heavy. I took several short breaks. At one point, I heard ATVs approaching so I got off the road. There were four of them and the first one stopped to see if I was okay. Then the driver gave me a tangerine, yum! Over several hours, I saw three horned lizards and one climbed on my hand!

After fifteen miles, I came across small, clear pools of water in an otherwise dry creek bed. The pools had water bugs, which I took as a good sign. I gave my filter a brief cleaning in one pool and collected from another. The filter ran decently fast, renewing my faith in it. Apparently the cow water was the culprit. Four miles later, at a flowing spring, I cleaned my filter multiple times and again it produced a decent stream of output.

The last six miles required more attention as the dirt road had old water channels and sandy areas. I couldn’t simply hike one side and instead constantly weaved along the best path. The sand was soft on my feet, though at times slower going. I set my tent up in a flat dirt area on the edge of Bare Ring Slough, a gully with pools of water and grass.

Day 64

Only 0.2 miles from camp, water gushed out of a pipe adjacent to a metal barrel. Determined to make it a quick stop, I filled one liter straight from the pipe and added iodine, then filtered a half liter. Shortly after, I was off at a quick pace, filled with energy. For four miles, the road had a thick sand that made hiking slower, though occasionally I escaped by walking a nearby cow path.

The next water source was an electric well that fed water via a pipe into a giant tire trough. I chugged 2/3 of a liter, ate a snack, and added iodine to two liters. It was 16 miles to the next source, however the road was straight, hard-packed, and mostly flat. Short of halfway, I took a lunch break. As I finished, Pepto hiked up so I joined her for the next 2.5 miles. We chatted about the cow pond and her & Pitch Perfect’s plan to road walk south from Rawlins.

Pepto and I reached a water cache that I had not noticed in FarOut. There were 2-3 gallons so I took about a half liter. It was nice to drink away and not ration water. I’ve been trying to carry at most two liters because I still have the bear canister, yet it was a warm day. Pepto stopped at the cache to take a lunch break: I continued on. I saw several lizards, ~10 total today, most the size of my thumb.

Bull Springs was the day’s last water source. It was a solar powered well with a faucet for water access. I started my dinner soaking, chugged the rest of that liter, and carried two more. I’ve been doing great at hydrating! I continued on for another eight miles, making it a 32 mile day. I found a patch of dried mud on which to camp.

Day 65

Several miles out from camp, I crossed paths with Pepto and Pitch Perfect. We hiked together to the next water source. This involved one gate that was so tight all three of us couldn’t close it, until we took the bottom out of its loop. Then it turned out we’d gone the wrong way and had to go through another gate that was too tight to even open. I led us under it instead. Ahead was a wrinkled landscape with a steep-sided gully. Pepto read that it was better to follow the fence so we did. After we got on Highway 287, which had a luxuriously wide shoulder, we decided to walk it and a dirt road all the way to water as, according to other thru-hikers, the official route was bushwhacking.

The water source was a cistern in a fenced-in grassy paddock. By leaning my upper body over the lip, I was able to scoop it with my filter bladder. The three of us took a snack break beside the gate. I liked how Pepto used a hiking pole to gravity feed her water filter. After that it was mostly road walking to Rawlins. I did see several lizards and caught & admired a tiny one. Road walking is so much harder on the feet!

Once I reached Rawlins, I treated myself to a vanilla milkshake as an afternoon snack. Then I got a hotel room at the Econo Lodge. It felt so nice to soak in the tub and follow it with a hot shower. The lodge was conveniently located near a large grocery store where I did my resupply and got dinner food.