Continental Divide Trail
Day 104 (August 7, 2021)
1711.6 to 1719.6 (8.0 miles) The winds died down right after sunset last night so I ended up with a good night’s sleep. It was cooler than expected this morning; we got a little spoiled with the warmer night temperatures across the Basin. The reduced visibility from the smoke persisted. I could not see the sun this morning until 30 minutes after sunrise. The first couple of miles continued on the road we chose to parallel the ‘bad’ trail until the trail crossed the road. It was nice to get on real trail, but it was mainly just markers leading up a rocky ridge. The geography was definitely changing at this point, and it made sense. South Pass City had been a gold boom town, with mining in these hills. I scared several groups of pronghorn as I came over small rises. It is cool seeing them close up, even if only momentarily as they run off. The trail on top of the ridge was very rugged sharp rocks. Tough to walk on but beautiful at the same time. The trail went up and down and followed close to a small stream then up again. We started seeing signs of the old mining activity. The trail climbed steeply up a rocky hill and dropped very steeply into a small valley with a creek. Here there was lots of evidence of old mining; mine waste piles, wooden beams etc. The trail had some markers that evidently had signs in the past describing some of the mining activity. We crossed a small creek on a decrepit bridge and were suddenly at South Pass City historic area. The historic area has restored and replica buildings from the gold boom era, starting in 1867. (Interesting fact: the first female justice of the peace anywhere was in South Pass City). We had arrived earlier than expected, so took our time wandering through the historic area before meeting my dad. I heard my dad in the parking area as I approached. Awesome. I introduced everyone and we went to the small store and got cream sodas and sarsaparilla. Then he brought us to Lander for a planned zero tomorrow. There I got to see my mom as well. Thank you mom and dad!
Day 103 (August 6, 2021)
1690.8 to 1711.6 (20.8 miles) Surprise - another thunderstorm last night. It really was a surprise. I woke up at 2 AM to see lightening and darkness rapidly approaching from the west and zipped my outer tent door. We got some pretty intense winds and heavy rain, but it didn’t last for long. At least the morning was beautiful and calm and the storm had abated long enough for my tent to be mostly dry. Again the morning was cool and calm for good hiking weather. The first goal was a water source called Mormon Springs. The highlight of the day for me was seeing concrete markers for the Oregon Trail! Most of the day was spent hiking a part of the Oregon Trail, or more correctly, the Seminoe Cuttoff of the Oregon Trail. (The Seminoe Cutoff avoided several crossings of the Sweetwater River during high water times.) Mormon Springs had great water, but was a little hard to locate exactly. The spring itself is not fenced off and is on the backside of a low mound/rock formation. It is not obvious from the trail. The water was cold and clear and much appreciated. We had decided that we would all meet up at a bridge over the Sweetwater River late in the day to decide where to camp. Our original plan (from several days ago) had been to camp at the Sweetwater. But we felt now we could go further and we had motivation to do so; my dad is meeting us at South Pass City to bring us into Lander. We don’t want to be late for that and want to have less miles to cover in the morning. The trail left dirt roads for a while to follow along the bank of the Sweetwater River. I loved this as the river is important historically as the water source for the Oregon Trail after it leaves the North Platte River west of Casper, Wyoming. I found Feral near the bridge, laid back in a chair under a portable awning. T, supporting his wife, had set up there and was now welcoming us. Thank you. We waited for Pockets and Just Jim to make a decision for where to camp. We all felt good (even my left shin was less sore than normal) and we decided to push on another 7 miles to leave an easy 8 miles to South Pass City tomorrow. We also decided to follow the recommendation of previous hikers and not follow the redline of the CDT for the next several miles but instead use a dirt road that closely parallels the trail. Many have commented that the trail in this area is not really a trail but just some markers occasionally in the sagebrush. We picked a spot along the road to meet and find the nearest open area in the sagebrush to camp. Feral and I set off first from the bridge. We did a little cross-country route of our own to cut off a big 90 degree bend in the road. The hiking went well, but we started noticing a change in the conditions. Darker clouds were forming behind us, but also the visibility was dropping. The visibility had been reduced somewhat all across the Great Divide Basin from wildfires in California, but only a little. Now it was dropping quickly. Feral found an open area just prior to our planned spot that was too good to pass. As we set up our tents, the winds picked up and became gusty. No fun. But, eerily, a wall of reduced visibility approached. It looked like rain at first but then we realized it was smoke. As it reached us we could smell the smoke and the sun turned red. Since I had coverage, I was able to find out this was predicted, as a high pressure system moved in. That was a relief since the sudden change could have indicated a nearby fire. Pockets and Just Jim had spent some time visiting with T so were a ways behind. Unfortunately, that meant dealing with the wind and smoke while hiking. They arrived ready to set up. Who knows if it will rain tonight. But it is exciting that I get to see my parents tomorrow along with it being a town day!
Day 102 (August 5, 2021)
1667.9 to 1690.8 (22.9 miles) I have become bad about taking pictures. Only two today. Sorry. The big first important goal today was to get to a water cache 12 miles from our campsite at the cow ponds. And we were motivated to make it quickly because of the poor quality of the water from last night. We generally need less water during the morning hours too. Normally I am the first out of camp since I am the slowest hiker but Feral beat me out this morning. And it didn’t take long for Just Jim and Pockets to pass me. The race was on. The weather was clear with moderate temperatures again, but warmer. Nothing much to report from the morning hike. I missed a turn when the CDT joined a major dirt road for a short distance and kept hiking up the road. Realizing I should be seeing the water cache I checked the map and saw my mistake. I turned around to find where the CDT diverged from the road. I hate bonus miles. The water cache is interesting. It was built specifically for CDT hikers nearly in the middle of nowhere. It is a corralled enclosure with a large information sign showing water sources across the Great Divide Basin and two boxes where water jugs are placed and usually some candy; we had suckers. Someone had also placed a water jug with cold water in it apparently not long before our arrival. It was awesome. We have heard it is a church group that maintains the cache. Whoever it is, thank you. Having plenty of clean water also allowed me to back flush my water filter, which was badly needed after the cow ponds last night. It was totally gross seeing what came out of the filter. The good news is that it filtered all that stuff out in the first place. The afternoon trail was more interesting, and where I should have taken more pictures. The last several miles before reaching the next water source and potential campsite had more up and downs and interesting red rock formations. And it also got very windy. In my estimation, we had been lucky with the winds across the basin. Now we got to see what they could do. A steady moderate wind is mentally fatiguing both because of the sound and the adjustment of your gait to accommodate it. And there is no real cover to get away from it. The water source is called Weasel Spring. (It is hard to imagine seeing a weasel out here.) It is in a seemingly odd location as it was in a narrow rocky ravine after climbing up a short but steep rocky hill. It is in a large fenced area and again had a metal culvert to collect clean water. We had decided to camp at the first good site past the spring. There was a large meadow-like area free of sagebrush shortly past the spring. It was still difficult to find a spot as it turned out much of the area had small mounds formed by tufts of grass. And some of the smooth areas had some type of grass with hard stems. Additionally, we wanted some protection from the wind. We found some acceptable spots near a short rock formation and set up. The good news was that the wind died down toward sunset (as it often does). It is so pleasant, I decided to sleep with my outside tent fly door up to see the stars.
Day 101 (August 4, 2021)
1644.6 to 1667.9 (23.3 miles) Our campsite last night did protect us from the wind, but we ended up with condensation. It made sense in retrospect. We were in a low spot below the reservoir and downwind. In the Basin with condensation. We just can’t win. No clouds today, but still moderate temperatures for August so I can’t complain. The first goal was a piped spring with no name. The trail in the morning had long sections of sand of various depths. The deeper it was, the harder it was to walk. Fortunately, several of these sections had worn hard paths next to them where cows had walked, so we used them. The piped spring was great. It was flowing well with cold clear water. It was a long carry to our campsite near a pond this evening, but with good quality water. There was more hills in the afternoon , but that at least meant the occasional tree. For me this day was not very memorable for some reason. Nothing bad, just nothing great. I had to work harder mentally to get in the last miles. I got to the cow ponds, our desired campsite first. It was not pretty. Though there was lots of water, they were stagnant with no inflow or outflow. And the shores around both were muddy and, well, cow fouled. We had little choice but to get water due to our long carry from the piped springs and it was twelve more miles to our next source. I gathered some water and filtered it. Before filtering it looked like Gatorade. After filtering it still had a yellowish hue to it. Here’s hoping the filter got all the nasty stuff. My filter slowed down noticeably as I filtered. I can’t wait to get to the next source for some clean water. Also, the ponds were in a valley with few flat spots to camp. We spread out and kicked away dry cow patties at our spots. Not great, but we have what we need. And we had some great motivation to move fast to the next water source in the morning.
Day 100 (August 3, 2021)
1620.6 to 1644.6 (A&M Reservoir) (24.0 miles) Well, maybe camping on cracked clay soil wasn’t the greatest idea. No thunderstorms last night, but a steady rain developed early in the morning hours and stayed steady for several hours. It was enough to puddle up in places and turn the top half inch of soil into a sticky mess. Yuck. And the Great Divide Basin is supposed to be dry? After packing up the wet and muddy tent, I again took off first. My shin was far better than expected but still hurt. Thank you ibuprofen. The first part of the trail was an old paved surface, but that quickly turned into dirt/clay. Hiking in that when wet is miserable. The wet clay sticks in layers to the bottom of your shoes and cakes up thick until there is too much and it falls off and starts over. Even worse, it does this unevenly on each shoe and between shoes. For example, the right shoe may shed the front half and still have a thick layer toward the heel while the left shoe has a moderate layer all across. It’s a horrible feeling. Stopping to attempt to scrape it off has no practical effect; within two steps it starts all over. The only good news was that the trail was intermittently sandy. Usually I don’t like hiking in sand, but it is far preferable to the wet clay. What a choice. There were a lot of left over clouds and a light breeze that kept it cool, so it was not all bad. There were lots of pronghorn to see all day. And something new - our first SOBO hikers. We talked to several. These are hikers who started in mid-June (early for a SOBO CDT) and have been crushing big miles. The only bad news is this is kind of far south for us to be seeing our first SOBOs. We are definitely behind. The wet trail lasted longer than I anticipated but gave way to drier conditions eventually. There were some sections with deeper sand, but nothing too bad. Our first goal of the day was a water source named Bull Springs. The terrain was more varied than I had pictured. There were some small up and downs with changing rocks. I liked it. And the mostly cloudy sky kept it cooler than normal. Bull Springs was in a small valley with very much larger sagebrush, some higher than me. This spring had a solar pump feeding a small pond and a culvert pipe in an enclosed area. Perfect. Though it was a little early, I ate lunch there as well. Just Jim and Feral showed up as well. After our break, it became obvious we could be in for afternoon thunderstorms. We hoped for the best and pushed on. The next stretch was much flatter and straight. I could see the trail ahead for many miles until it disappeared over a rise. That turned out to be mentally hard. Sometimes it felt like I was making no progress, with that trail on the hill seemingly not getting any closer. Yep, still a long way to the hill.... Thunderstorms did develop around us, but we always seemed to be just on the edge of them, with only a drop of rain or two. Actually some good hiking weather. I ran across J taking a break in the afternoon and we leapfrogged each other for the remainder of the day. Our goal for the day was a big water source, called A&M Reservoir. It was built with a joint effort by an oil company and outdoor enthusiasts to provide some fishing opportunities in the basin. Seems odd out here, but it is next to a major, well maintained dirt road that makes it accessible. My shin was OK, but grew more painful with more miles on it. It especially hurts on descents towards the end of the day. We did eventually reach the hill and made the descent toward the reservoir. It had became somewhat windy by now. There were some campsite possibilities on the edge of the reservoir but they were exposed to the wind. We chose to set up camp in a large ravine that led from the outlet of the reservoir and had a shelf just large enough for us and provided some wind protection. Hopefully no rain tonight. Edit: Today is my 30th anniversary! Thank you for being so supportive and sticking around so long. I love you Karen.
Day 99 (August 2, 2021)
Rawlins Econo Lodge to 1603.6 to 1620.6 (18.5 miles) Back on the trail today, into the Great Divide Basin. This section is somewhat notorious on the CDT for several reasons. First, it is wide open sagebrush and desert like. Trees are rare. Second, it is mostly dry. You get spoiled in Colorado (NOBO) with not having to think a lot about water. Now we are back to planning longer water carries like back in New Mexico, and may have to deal with less-than-desirable water sources. Third, Wyoming can be windy and you are exposed to any thunderstorms. Last, it is one of the longer sections without resupply, about 120 miles. However, the trail is mostly dirt roads or two-track Jeep trails and has much less vertical on average. Because of this, some hikers will complete a 24 hour challenge, where they see how many miles they can complete in one 24 hour period while in the basin. We are not going to do that. Our plan is based mainly on available water sources to avoid dry camping where we can. I got hiking first since I am concerned how my shin will do. The first 15 miles of the hike once outside of town follow alongside a highway, but not right on it. Then the trail turns away and runs mostly northwest across the basin. My shin felt far better than several days ago, but was still sore. But I hiked at a decent pace. Our goal today was a spot near a BLM campground about 3 miles after the trail turns away from the highway. There is one water source along the way. The first night will be a dry camp, which requires having enough water to reach the next source and for supper and breakfast. Overall the hike went well for me. The weather was clear and cooler than normal for most of the day. The trail was far enough from the highway that you couldn’t see it at times. I was careful to stop and stretch more often, and take ibuprofen occasionally. The CDT was back to some of its old tricks. It would be along a road for a short time, then take off cross country without a sign. But if you looked carefully across the sagebrush, you might see a small marker in the distance. Many of the markers had been blown down. At one point our map showed a gate at a fence line. But there was no gate. Pack off and under the fence. Things like this don’t even bother me any more; it’s just the CDT. I looked quickly both directions to ensure there wasn’t a gate nearby and then just went under. Pack on, and off again. The water source was called Fish Pond, which was enclosed by a wooden fence to keep cows away from the spring itself, though water flows from the area to a pond for cows. Within the enclosure was a piece of metal culvert set vertically with a lid that collects some of the water and prevents bugs and debris from fouling the water. Good, fresh, cool water. It is 16 miles to the next water source, so I collected 3 liters for that, plus 1.5 liters for camp. Additionally, it is always a good idea to ‘camel up’ which simply means drinking some water while at the water source. I normally drink about a liter, spread out over 30 minutes. It was time for lunch anyway. The trail followed the highway more closely as it became constricted by narrowing terrain and descended to where the trail departs the highway for good. We had reports that the first several miles of trail at that point were not marked at all and was in bad shape. We elected to go a little further on the highway and follow a road that intersects the CDT slightly past the bad section. With the trail descending into a wide open area, I could see our campsite area for an hour-and-a-half before I got there. During this last part, thunderstorms could be seen developing north, west, and south of me, but it remained sunny where I was. I reached our goal before 5:00. Just Jim and Pockets had waited for a shop to open in Rawlins before departing and Feral had relaxed a little longer in town before starting. I was unaware of this, so didn’t set up camp, waiting for them in case we decided to go further. While waiting, the man who was supporting his wife in the CDT drove up and stopped to talk. His trail name is T, and hers is J. She had selected a campsite about 1.5 miles past ours and would be by shortly. When the gang all arrived, we decided to camp at our selected spot, since there was open ground, though it was a crusty clay mixture. Nearby storm clouds were dissipating and created some good photo opportunities. Then a group of wild horses almost walked through our camp. This is something I had been wanting to see, and Pockets was ecstatic to see them. An overall good day of hiking.
Days 97 and 98 (July 31 and August 1, 2021)
Double zero in Rawlins Per doctor’s recommendation, and as it worked out for my hiking partners, a double zero for me. My hiking partners were still on trail and spent one more night out and came into town yesterday. Their stories are the most interesting. That additional night was rather miserable for them with the thunderstorms. Feral spent that night at a campsite with a privy at it. Bottom line: he ended up sheltering in the privy due to the severity of the storm at his location. (See his You Tube video, “30 July on the CDT: Storms: Night Three” and the next one.) Pockets and Just Jim were several hours behind Feral. They had decided to hike into the night in order to catch up a little and to possibly see some meteors. They could see storms ahead and to the side of them that were not threatening them. But at one point Just Jim looked behind them and only saw blackness. Very shortly after, the downpour started. They got soaked. And so did the ground. They had to set up in the rain in an area with a clay-like surface that was sticking to everything. And the had difficulty putting in their tent stakes. Let’s just say they were all happy to get into Rawlins yesterday and take a day off today. Also, my brother showed up again! It was great to have a chance to visit and to have some wheels to get around town. Thank you! We had pizza delivered to the hotel this evening which was fun and delicious. We are planning on 5 1/2 days to cross the Great Divide Basin. It is dry, so our hiking plan is focused on the known water sources. Spirits are high. My shin feels better, though still sore and stiff. Here’s hoping it doesn’t slow me down.There isn’t very much vertical on the trail between here and Lander, so that should help. One more piece of news: my parents have decided to meet us for our stay in Lander! This is their first big trip away from home since COVID , so is a big deal for them as well.
Day 96 (July 30, 2021)
7.0 miles on highway 71 towards Rawlins. Not a good day. First, we got winds from passing thunderstorms again last night. The only difference was it came and went in waves, not one long outburst . And being on the small ridge line did not help. To add to the misery, the only rain from it all came right at dawn. It was not enough to make mud, but enough to force us packing up a wet tent. Sigh. Second, I woke up with my left shin hurting. This was unusual as it would start hurting only after hiking some miles. Not a good sign. My shin hurt badly hiking back down the ridge to the road. I stopped and stretched and took some ibuprofen. It helped, but not much. By seven miles in to the hike I was hobbling and barely able to put pressure on my left leg. Very bad. It was obvious I could not continue walking, but it was hard to admit since this could affect my whole thru hike. Silly, I know, but I wanted to keep going. I waited for Feral to catch up to talk it over with him. I also sent a message to Just Jim and Pockets; they were about 6 hours behind us. As Feral was recommending I get off trail, a car pulled over, a young man rolled down his window and said he heard I had a shin problem and needed a ride into town. Whaaa...? He was out supporting his wife on the CDT and had stopped to talk to Pockets and Just Jim and they had told him. A ride before I had even made a decision to get a ride. A new record. He brought me into Rawlins to a hotel and then to Burger King since I couldn’t check in yet. He even offered to take my one gallon jugs (from the water caches). Kindness and a spirit of service beyond belief. But wait... more trail magic to come this day. I hobbled back to the hotel and waited in the shade of a tree for check in time. I used the time to call my medical insurance to get clearance to go to an urgent care; they are quite picky if it isn’t ‘life or limb’. As I was answering their questions, an older couple sat under the tree as well that appeared to be hikers. (You learn to tell.) The insurance company decided I needed to be seen and put me on hold to find a place that was approved. While on hold, the lady under the tree asked if I was a CDT hiker, and we got talking. She and her husband are finishing hiking the CDT, completing sections they had been unable to complete last year. They were driving their vehicle to the end of each section and getting rides back to the start. They had just finished a section to Rawlins. About that time, my insurance company came back on the phone and informed me I had to go to the hospital in Laramie, Wyoming. “Laramie!” I said in exasperation, “That is over 90 miles away! How am I supposed to get there?” Almost immediately the husband hiker next to me said “I will do it.” I sat in stunned silence, trying to understand this. After a moment I asked him if he understood how far it was. He calmly said yes and reaffirmed he would drive me there. I told the insurance company I had a ride and got the hospital details. I was in shock. I checked into the hotel and met the man (trail name The Mayor) in the lobby. He drove me all the way and waited in the emergency room parking lot for several hours for me, then drove me back. In thunderstorms. At least I got to pay for a gas fill up. He said he and his wife had so many nice things done for them on the trail, he saw it as a way to ‘pay it forward’. Absolutely amazing. Thank you doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings. My diagnosis: no stress fracture and no blood clot. Simply an over use muscle injury. Some pain meds, several days off, some steroids, and ibuprofen when hiking were all that was recommended. Yeah! I can keep going. I must mention the thunderstorms. They were intense and beautiful to see in the wide open space of southern Wyoming. But my hiking buddies are out in them. Yikes.
Day 95 (July 29, 2021)
21.7 miles on CR 500 and Highway 71 (to near last water cache) First I need to talk about last night. Wind — lots of it, and some rain. It appears we were between two thunderstorms at once and got the winds from both, but luckily not much rain. But the winds were intense, gusty, and lasted a long time. That meant lots of flapping noise from my tent, and little sleep. But I was fortunate. Feral’s tent collapsed at one point. Once he got it back up, he spent several hours holding on to his poles to keep it from going down again. Not a pleasant evening. The left over clouds and smoke from California wildfires at least led to a beautiful sunrise. The rest of the day was rather boring. It was hot and sunny with very little breeze. Trees were rare. Even though it was a dirt road, it was hard packed with the occasional logging truck and ranch vehicle going by. It was nearly like walking a hard surface road. And I felt it. As the day wore on my shins began to hurt, especially my left shin. I stretched during breaks to keep ‘shin splints’ at bay. We reached the end of the dirt road late afternoon after finding water cache number three. Feral and I set a goal to reach at least the fourth cache before camping. It was down highway 71. Up until several years ago, this road was dirt and was the CDT. It was then paved and the CDT was moved further to the west in some hills. So, we still were not on the CDT, but close. The paved road did not help my left shin at all. We found the last water cache as planned and had a little more daylight to hike. But hiking some more would put us on private land for a while. But the area near the cache was BLM land. However, we were in a small, steep sided valley as well. Feral thought the top of the west ridge looked flat, so he hiked up to check it out. Sure enough, there were multiple possible campsites up there. The bad news - it is the top of a ridge line and exposed, and we saw thunderstorms in the distance. Cross our fingers...
Day 94 (July 28, 2021)
Saratoga to 7.8 miles out on County Road 500 (7.8 miles) The big problem for today was water. We had once again used Google to map out a route, this time to Rawlins. (This would be 2 to 3 hiking days). However, since we were in dry sagebrush country (unless next to the North Platte River) and not on the CDT, we didn’t know the water situation. Looking at imagery of our route did not look hopeful. Pockets had put out a Facebook request for any help in placing some water caches along the way. (We had already asked Disciple and he couldn’t.) She got two responses (amazing!) but one backed out due to a work shift change. The other was from Rawlins. He was excited to help out and we arranged a time to meet him at the Family Dollar store in town to load up the one gallon water jugs. The plan was for he and Just Jim to go out and place the caches and send us the locations while we got started hiking, then Just Jim would catch up. (We had been delayed by a combination of laziness and coordination for the caches.) After we loaded the water, Feral, Pockets, and I started hiking out along our proposed route. We got just outside of town when we got a call from Just Jim to stop; they had run across a problem. We found a lone shade tree and waited for them. They had placed one cache and were on the way to the second and found the road blocked by a gate marked Private Property. (Side note: this was on a county road so shouldn’t be. However, we didn’t think confronting a Wyoming rancher would be smart.) The man from Rawlins had come up with a different route he was familiar with that avoided the ‘private property’. The only bad news was that it was longer, but it worked. We all agreed and they set off to place the water caches on the new route. Because of all this, we really got a late start on hiking. So much so that Pockets decided to go back into town and start tomorrow; the hot springs were calling. Feral and I pushed on, but with a much reduced goal of camping at the first cache. We made it. But it is amazing how hard it is to find an open spot to set up a tent in wide open sagebrush country. The sagebrush is tough and some open spots are old anthills, which won’t hold a tent stake. We found an area not far past the first cache though and set up. And, as a side note, we have to carry out our empty one gallon containers from the cache. I am doing it by crushing them and tying them to my pack. Final note: land responsibility/ownership is a tricky thing here. It is literally a patchwork of BLM, state, and private property. You can’t just camp anywhere. In general, we should only camp on BLM or National Forest Service Land. Even a public road through private land gives no right to camp there. I have an app that shows land ownership to help keep ourselves out of trouble.