August 16, 2013

August 16, 2013

Rawlins, WY to 4 miles north of Muddy Creek

30 miles

 

It's always hard for me to leave the comforts of town, such as a soft warm bed, an air conditioned room, water available straight from the tap with no treatment necessary. To take full advantage of my time in town I slept in until 8am, ate the complimentary breakfast at Penny's Diner next door, and even took another shower before sitting down in front of the TV for an hour or two. 

 

Checkout was at 11am so I finally left my room about 10:45 and started walking back toward the "trail." My pack was loaded down with 6 days of food to get me through the next 179 miles, as well as 4.5 liters of water to get me through the next 30-34 miles until the next good water source. Needless to say, my pack was heavy this morning. I estimate it to be around 40 lbs, which is the heaviest it has been yet. Not exactly fun to hike with, but luckily the hiking today was very mellow and basically flat. It also got lighter as I consumed the water and snacks along the way. Also of note, I didn't see any people at all today as soon as my feet were once again on dirt road (trail) south of Rawlins. It's kind of strange in a way, but after hiking solo for as long as I have, it's something that I have kind of gotten used to. That being said, I'm always happy to cross paths with people and have a conversation. 

 

Below are a couple of haikus that sum up the day:

 

 

Red road winds along

Puffy white clouds streak the sky 

Sagebrush paints the hills

 

August 15, 2013

August 15, 2013

Zero Day in Rawlins, WY

Ahh, how nice not to wake up to an alarm this morning!  After complimentary breakfast at the diner next door I made my way to the PO to pick up my package and also pick up an SD card reader to upload pictures.  After that trip (my major goal for the day) I came back to the hotel to repackage my food and get things mostly packed up to head out early tomorrow morning.  

According to information from other hikers it is 30-35 miles to the next water source that isn't alkaline/saline (gives you the runs) so that will be my goal for the day.  After that I hope to do 30/day to get to Steamboat Springs.  I can't wait to get out of this desert landscape and back to some nice forested hiking, at least for a little while.  I suppose that has something to do with being born and raised in the Northwest.  

One more night in a nice soft bed before heading out and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.  

August 14, 2013

August 14, 2013

3 miles past Bull Spring to Rawlins

~26 miles

Another nice and early morning as I was on trail at 6am.  My goal was just to get to Rawlins in the afternoon early enough to to take care of some town chores so that I would sit back and relax in the evening.  The hiking itself was fairly flat and easy, but it was the first day in the basin where I saw zero clouds in the morning. As soon as the sun rose, it was with me all day without any shade until getting to Rawlins.  It didn't seem to be terribly hot, but just being in the sun for 9 hours is tiring.

I made it to Rawlins around 3pm with plenty of time to get order a pizza, pick up some beer and snacks at the local market, and get a hotel room, in that order.  after satisfying my hiker hunger I took a shower and got started on laundry.  After such a meal I was feeling pretty sleepy but managed to get myself up once more to go to the market to do some resupply shopping.  Then it was back to the room to lounge and stay up later than I should have rotting my brain by watching TV.  

After a fairly long stretch without a zero day I decided that tomorrow I will take a day to hang out and just let my legs rest.  Also helping me make that decision was the fact that I am waiting on a package at the PO that is supposed to arrive tomorrow.  Then back to the trail on Friday and on to Stemaboat Springs, CO! Hard to believe that Colorado is less than a week's hiking away.  Life is good.

August 13, 2013

August 13, 2013
Hillside near oil field to 3 miles past Bull Spring
~38 miles

I had great ambitions of getting in another 40 mile day and even made it on trail at 5:45am. It was light enough to hike without using a headlamp, but just barely. I usually have a tough time getting myself going in the morning but being up and hiking as the sun rises is one of my favorite parts of thru-hiking, and the weather tends to be cooler as well, which is a boon for a place such as the Great Divide Basin.

It was easy going to Benton spring where I ran into fellow SOBO Bert from Belgium. I've crossed paths with him a few times now over the course of the hike and I must say its nice to see a familiar person every once in a while, even if it's someone I really don't know very well. Bert and I passed each other a few times throughout the day.

So, about that 40 mile goal... Turns out that about 10 miles into the day the trail decided to turn into a sandbox off and on for about 10 miles. That was some frustrating hiking, slipping back a little every step. To add to the difficulty underfoot there was also a lovely thunderstorm that rolled through just as the sandpit was ending. It rained/hailed for a good 30-45 minutes with the occasional thunder, but only one lightning bolt that I saw. It definitely made me hike faster for a while just to stay warm as I was being drenched. Normally I would take cover under some trees, however, the closest thing to a tree was 6" high sagebrush for miles. Long story short, by the time I made 35 miles for the day at Bull Spring I was already feeling spent and really didn't feel up to hiking another five miles, so I didn't. After eating dinner at the spring I hiked for another hour and then set up camp. It leaves me with 25 miles instead of 23 tomorrow so no big deal really. I should still make it in time for dinner and may even get some food resupply shopping done as well. Oh, and I am REALLY looking forward to a shower and laundry. It's been far too long (11 days? & almost 300 miles) since my last shower. Yikes.


Alex

August 12, 2013

August 12, 2013
Sweetwater River to Hillside near oil field
~40 miles

Planning on doing 40 miles in a day requires a bit of forethought, at least it does for me. As such I set an alarm to wake up at 5am sou could start hiking before 6am. As soon as I was awake I needed to get up to pee, so I got out of my warm sleeping bag and tent to do so. When I emerged and looked up into the still starry sky I even saw a shooting star! What a great start to the day.

The weather was very cooperative today and provided cloud cover for the majority of the day. There was also a nice breeze that helped keep me cool as well. The first 15 miles to Weasel Spring went quickly and I was there by 10:15. Since this was the only water for the next 30 miles I set up my stove and cooked up a meal that I would otherwise wait until the end of the day to eat. Soon after I arrived a NOBO also showed up by the name of Shea. He apparently had forgotten his water treatment drops at camp a couple day ago and was hoping to run into someone at the spring to borrow treatment from. It was his lucky day because I had just gotten there and Let him borrow my filter. He still had quite a few miles to go to get to South Pass City so I also gave him some of my treatment tablets (MSR Aquatabs) to get him through.

After eating and filtering my own water I set off again around 11:30. For the rest of hiking for the day I got to listen to more of Angels and Demons (audiobook) and a variety of music. It was nice to have some distraction from the very open and expansive great divide basin.

Just after 5pm as I was hiking along I snuck a peak behind me to see if any vehicles were coming down the dirt road that is the trail since I had earbuds in and couldn't necessarily hear one coming. Usually it reveals nothing unexpected, just the road I have just trod, but his time there was a jeep. I did my usual routine and started walking alongside the road instead of in the middle of it to allow the jeep to pass and continue on its way. To my surprise the jeep pulled up along side and the folks inside asked if I needed anything. That of course depended on what they had, so I asked and was rewarded with baby carrots, blueberries, a diet coke, a hard boiled egg, string cheese, Cheetos, pita chips, and potato chips! What a delightful surprise and my first trail magic from trail angels in the state of Wyoming. Tom and Laura Paul are from New York State and have been coming out to Wyoming for the past 40 years. They have grown tired of the overcrowded national park attractions, preferring instead to spend their time in "wide open spaces" as the put it. Much to the benefit of CDT hikers because they also like to drive part of the great divide basin and offer treats to whoever they come across. Lucky me! They also mentioned that it is currently the Perseid meteor shower as well as debris from some comet so there should be lots of meteors tonight, assuming it clears off. Too late for me to stay up, but maybe I'll catch some in the morning.

After that wonderful surprise and a nice chat with the couple, they had to be moving on and I still had about 7-8 miles to hike to make 40
for the day. I got my tent setup at 8:30 and am now enjoying a lemon drop courtesy of 12 Oz. cheers!


Alex

August 11, 2013

August 11, 2013
9 miles outside South Pass City to Sweetwater River
~24 miles

The morning miles were fairly easy and passed relatively quickly. I ran into an older gentleman out for a walk and talked with him for a while, answering some questions about the hike, before going on my way. I wanted to be rude and tell him I urgently wanted to get to town, but really there was no hurry so I stayed as long as he wanted to talk.

Once in South Pass City (barely even a town) I proceeded to the general store/post office to pickup my packages. This maildrop was particularly exciting because I received a care package from my friend who I hiked with for 2200 miles of the PCT! There were some I interesting items in the box which made for a nice surprise. In fact I enjoyed a trail cocktail tonight courtesy of 12 Oz. Prost: to happy hour no matter where you are! Also arriving today was an iPod. Mine has sadly seen better days and can now only charge halfway and be activated via voice control. I look forward to a variety I music and audiobooks now that I have some new tunes!

While in South Pass City, while charging my devices at the store I ended up taking a tour of the Carissa Mine, which is the reason the town was established in the first place. It was Fun to learn about the history of the place and see how the mine used to run. The mine itself was 45 stories deep, although the majority of that is under water at the current time.

After a good 5.5 hours in "town" I finally made my way back out to the trail. This stretch is going to be a dry one so I wanted to make it to the next reliable water by nightfall to cook dinner. It was pretty easy hiking along a road for the most part, and with the new tunes and stories to listen to I was a happy hiker. I got ti my destination and set up my tent around 8:45 just as light was starting to fade from the sky. it was the first night on the trail that I had to eat my dinner by headlamp light. Such is life on trail, I'm sure there will be many more in my future as the daylight hours continue to wane.

Looks like some hot and dry hiking the next couple days so I may be getting an early start in the morning. Buenos noches!


Alex

August 10, 2013

August 10, 2013
Corral Creek to 9 miles outside South Pass City
~29 miles

Today I hiked. That's about how I feel about it. Nothing particularly interesting about the day. The only real thing of note that I can think of is that the views I've had to the south today look FLAT. That shouldn't really be a surprise based on everything I've heard about the upcoming great divide basin, but it is in stark contrast o the jagged peaks of the previous few days.

Also, I saw four people and two dogs today. One of the dogs was freaking out when it saw me and ran back down the trail the other way. It took a good five minutes for the owner to wrangle the beast so I could get by without the dog running around and getting in my way again. Weird.

Tomorrow it's on to South pass City to pick up my resupply and then it's back out on the trail. No motel, no restaurant, no nothin'. I'm debating whether or not I want to try to do big miles through the basin or just take it easy. Based on how flat it sounds like it will be and the monotony of the scenery I may just go for it and try to push through it and take a zero day in Rawlins.


Alex