Day 88 (July 22, 2021)

Rand, CO to Walden, CO (22 miles)

All road walk today to make it to Walden, Colorado. It was not exciting.

The big unknown for today was water, and it didn’t turn out well. Two potential water sources were unusable; one was dry and the other was just a stagnant nasty small puddle. 22 miles on 2.5 liters of water for me. I should have consumed more than four liters. I wasn’t suffering but definitely thirsty. The waitress at the restaurant in Walden earned a good tip for keeping our glasses full tonight.

We were helped by cloudiness most of the day and the threat of rain as we approached Walden, which kept the temperature moderate.

We saw a lot of pronghorn antelope today, a first for Pockets. They are very skittish and so are hard to capture on camera. We also saw white pelicans of all things. They migrate here and to Yellowstone (amongst other places) to breed. What a surprise to see them.

Walden is a small town, but much larger than Rand. The restaurant was very accommodating as we sat there a long time, both to eat a lot and to wait for Feral. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t beat the rain to town and walked in wet. At least we got an impressive double rainbow.

The only remaining problem was where to camp; we are attempting to save money by not going to a hotel. We ended up at a pavilion at a wildlife viewing area near the edge of town. I set up near a willow bush behind the pavilion. Tomorrow is exciting for me for two reasons. First, we reach Wyoming. Second, my wife is meeting us. Yeah!