Day 92: Crooks Mountains towards Atlantic City

Mileage: 36.1 miles (1584.1-1626.2)

I was up by 5:15 and was walking about 25 minutes later. It was a cool morning so I wore my down hoodie - the same one I wore high in the San Juan's and low back in the New Mexican desert. It's served me pretty darn well from when I've been freezing cold to just mildly chilly, like this morning.

The sun hadn't quite risen when I started walking, but the sky off to the south and west was already a soft orange and blue. As the sun slowly made its ascent the hues of the western horizon changed subtly before they took on a bright blue it would wear until the sun made its way over to it, readying to set.

The antelope were once again plentiful - the guy at the motel in Rawlins told me Antelope jerky is just wonderful, as is Antelope hamburgers. I couldn't get the thought out of my head, imagining them as little burgers trotting upwards of 70mph. No wonder they were scared of me - they could probably see it in my eyes.

The day was blustery, much more so than the days previous. It did keep me cool, but the trail was headed due west, which unfortunately was directly into the wind. I ran into two sheep, the only two I'd seen in weeks - they must have escaped and definitely looked lost.

Puffy clouds rolled in in the early afternoon. Then I ran into the Oregon Trail at something called the Seminole cutoff. Then I started thinking about a question that I've been thinking about for a long time: "Who can really blame the settlers for killing all the buffalo?" I mean we all saw how fun it was in Oregon Trail the computer game, where you'd shoot 3,456 lbs of buffalo, but only be able to bring 115 lbs back. 

Continuing with Oregon Trail (the game) I remember as I kid I'd name the other settler children after my little brother and older sister - Ben and Katie. At first, you think this is cute - but then I'd set their rations to "meager" and watch them slowly starve and succumb to hay fever or dysentery. Who knew that game was so realistic? Literally, I must have played hundreds of times and I'm pretty sure I never made it to Oregon (that's where it goes, right?). You should always ford the river.

Getting over to Mormon Spring there were a ton of Sage Grouse in the meadow. Each set shot off like gunfire right before I stepped on them, scaring the crap out of me four or five times in a matter of a few minutes. When I reached the spring it was just a clear pool in the rocks, but perfect for me to drink out of.

Later in the afternoon I saw some figures headed towards me in the road. At first I thought they were more Antelope or Elk. But then they were kind of bobbing up and down and coming straight at me. They were bikers! A couple from Australia in their 40's or 50's and an older fella. The couple was biking from Banff (Alberta, Canada) to the Mexican Border. Some much for Mexico to Canada! Well, it's a tad easier on a bike - they projected it would take them 70 days - but still that's pretty impressive!

They gave me some graham crackers, a fruit cup, some Kool Aid packets, and some extra water - I wish I had something to share with them! We exchanged a few stories and both headed on our ways. They were the first people I'd seen in three days. It's weird how it all of a sudden feels foreign to talk to another human after so much listening, watching, and talking to myself.

I finished the last five miles mostly downhill on the gravel road when I came to the Sweetwater River - my goal for the day! I took my first on-trail bath (which is crazy, I know - but there really hasn't been all that much water and when I did see it previously I was way up high and it was frigid!) It's a big contrast to when I was hiking in the Sierra's on the Pacific Crest Trail - I bathed nearly everyday - of course, the day time temperatures were much higher and the sun also much more reliable. I washed some clothes as well and then ate some cheese and graham crackers for dinner, before writing and heading to bed by 9am. Tomorrow, I'd hike into Atlantic City for a hot meal and the a few more down to South Pass to grab my package. I'd head out the same day as I'm in a bit of a time crunch to meet my dad in Jackson to hike with him in the Tetons for a few days!

Day 91: Continuing through the Red Desert

Mileage: 33.3 miles (1550.8-1584.1)

It rained on me pretty good last night. I didn't get wet, but the winds picked up and were really making my tent walls flap. It just kept me up for a bit, wondering if I'd staked it down good enough. I only had six stakes in the ground, instead of the customary ten. When I went to sleep it didn't look like rain. I should have learned my lesson by now. It flapped good, but held. I eventually made it back to sleep and by morning the rain was gone and it was mostly clear skies, except for a mass of clouds off to the west.

I got going by around 6:30am, a bit later than I wanted, but I'd turned my phone off the night before so just slept until I woke up with the sun. I had my poptarts and heated up some coffee before I started walking and then packed up.

Tons of antelope were out this morning, seemingly a herd over every small rise. Sometimes they'd let me get close, other times they'd run before I even saw them, only knowing because the tiny brown and white specks in the distance. Often, when a herd ran, one individual would stay behind and watch me, almost as if he or she was the designated lookout. This one would run away with the rest by the time I got within 75 yards or so.

The rolling hills were seemingly endless. As far as the eye could see there were more hills and plains in all directions. The sagebrush landscape was so empty and desolate - it felt a bit lonely to see such big empty space. The only other creatures I saw besides the antelope were the livestock. Black and brown cows of all shapes and sizes, with the occasional horse interspersed here and there. I said 'hi' whenever I passed the cattle and did my best not scare them - for my safety and their own, as they'd often all just run in one direction regardless of what was in the way.

I watered up at A&M reservoir, basically a man made lake, and noticed the clouds that I'd seen to the West when I woke up were starting to roll in. After I set out I got drizzled on a bit, but not enough to need my rain jacket.

It drizzled off and on, and big puffy clouds came in rest of day. After close to 15 miles from A&M, I arrived at Brenton spring, the last reliable water for close to twenty miles. It was a nice little trickle, secluded in the brush with a faint trail to where you could fill up. I cooked my dinner and took a break in the shade - the sun was really taking it out of me and my new shoes were working different parts of my feet than I was used to.

After my break I headed out for the final nine miles of the day, passing a few questions water sources along the way. If I had been desperate any of them would have done, but I wasn't there yet.

Coming over a hill to a farm pond I startled a Golden Eagle who had been eyeing some ducklings down below. He was a massive bird and at first I couldn't believe I'd been only a few feet away. It reminded me of a couple days prior when I did the same thing with a coyote. You never know what you'll find popping over a hill.

The wind had picked up in the afternoon but I found a semi-sheltered spot just below a hillock. I called it early so I could stretch some and wake up early. I prepped all my stuff for the next day - put my snacks in my waist belt pockets, mixed my cold coffee (I was running low on fuel), set my poptart out for morning, and put tomorrow's dinner in my pot. Ready for a new day .... after some zzzzzzzz's.

Day 90: North from Rawlins beginning the Great Basin

Mileage: 34.5 miles (1516.3-1550.8)

I woke up first around 5:00am but couldn't bear to leave the comfort of the king size bed. It wasn't until close to 6:45 that my back starting hurting, which finally got me out of bed.

I went to the lobby and grabbed some coffee after I packed up my things. I sat there eating cookies and drinking the weak brown stuff for close to an hour talking to the front desk guy. He asked me the normal stuff about hiking and I answered politely. I was off by about 7:30am and made a quick stop at the gas station for two breakfast sandwiches before I left town on the highway.

I also had some leftover pizza and breadsticks in my bag from the night before which I munched on throughout the day. The landscape was wide open once I got off the highway, with the rolling divide a mile or two to my West. I passed a rock quarry and followed old jeep roads, many of which were barely distinguishable from the rest of the desert.

There were a few cacti, but not nearly as many as I saw down in New Mexico - they were all small as well, barely a few inches off the ground. I still was wary of them as their spines would still really hurt if you got one in your foot. It was mostly flat, with gentle ups and downs here and there, but nothing sustained. The steepest parts were if I got off trail and had to go up and down an arroyo.

I saw a few creatures that resembled small horny toads - too long to be a toad, but too fat to be a true lizard. I'm not sure what they are, but I'll have to look them up. One thing I won't have to lookup is the rattlesnake that warned me from a bush I nearly stepped on. I learned firsthand (and on Radiolab) today that hearing actually elicits a faster reaction than any other sense, taking only nanoseconds for a sound to go from our ear to our spinal cord (just a few neurons are involved!) I was thankful for this as I jumped back instinctively when I heard the rattle. It wasn't until at least a second or two later that my brain actually registered that the sound was a deadly poisonous snake. There's evolution for ya ... not only on our end, but the snake as well! Rattlers had evolved the best warning system they could in terms of reaction time, as the last thing they want to do is bite you (it wastes valuable energy since they aren't going to eat us...)

It was probably a Western Prairie Rattler, though I didn't stick my head in the sagebrush to give him a full examination. I moved on, being more vigilant as I walked until I hit the first water source of the day, a solar spring. I took a break, grabbed some water, and set out again for the next 16 mile stretch without water.

I walked along the highway once more for about a mile, until the trail diverged to follow a pipeline for five miles and then a road. I never saw the pipeline, so I figured it must be underground. It's funny the map would say, "follow the pipeline" if it was underground, but that was the situation. I came to one more paved road, crossed quickly and was back on dirt roads the rest of the day.

I got to Bull Spring around 6pm and once again filled my bottles. There was great, clean flow directly from a pipe so didn't even need to filter it. I pressed on after a snack and got about five miles past Bull before setting up camp while the sun went down around 8:45pm. I made my ramen, wrote a bit and turned in for the night by 10pm. Lightning flashed in the distance and the coyotes howled. I hoped neither got too close.