The more I hike today, the shorter my distance tomorrow going into Rawlins. Oh, if it was only that simple. There is the issue of water. There are only three spots to get water today, at 3 miles, at 5 miles and at 24.3 miles. The first 2 1/2 miles are on dirt roads, the remaining ~22 miles are on Sage Creek Highway, a two lane asphalt road. We could follow the CDT on the redline, but it is also road, albeit dirt and 20 miles longer. I’ll take the shorter pavement route over the longer dirt road route.
It felt cool this morning for the first couple miles. Of course, I was up and hiking about 5:30 am, a little earlier than usual. I passed an old cabin and then came upon Flow and Gib. They had found a flatbed trailer parked just off the road and slept on it along with Old Bag, and Sticks who were already up and gone.
Upon reaching the highway I turned right. In about 1/2 a mile we hit our first water of the day and filled up. Blue Rabbit was just a couple hundred yards in front of me heading up the highway. No need to get water at the next stop as the morning was cool and I wasn’t go through any. Now it was just walking up the highway. After a few hours I was struck with what an immaculate highway this was. Asphalt not chip seal. Not a pot hole or flaw in the road surface. Edges well defined. And NO VEHICLES. Seriously. I walked along this road for 7 hours and saw at most 15 cars. A super highway to nowhere. It was great for walking as it was super safe. A good wind blew all day long providing cooling in the sun. When I had walked about 20 total miles for the day a pickup coming at me pulled to the shoulder of the road and stopped. A man climbed out and asked if I wanted some water. He had a cooler in the back with water on ice. Of course I said yes and I poured out the water in my bottle because it was well over 100°, roasting in the sun all day and filled it with ice cold store bought bottled water. Then he offered me a soda. I downed an ice cold Pepsi. And then he drove off.
I got a text from Dallas. Saying she was at the Miller Creek water source and was waiting for me. I checked my map (no FarOut on this part as we were off trail and not on an established alternate) and saw I was about a mile away. When I got to the creek I found Dallas tucked under some low bushes trying to avoid the sun. We decided to camp here for the night. There was a campground two miles up the road, but it was off the highway about half a mile and we didn’t want to add any extra distance to our walk. There was a luscious grassy area just a few steps away to set up tents. I soaked my feet for 40 minutes while Dallas set up, then I joined her.
The sun was still high in the sky and there was no shade. We lay outside our tents in their shadows letting the breeze cool us. I used my umbrella to deepen the shade. It was awesome to spend an afternoon lying on my back, my pack my pillow and just relax.
When I finally crawled into my tent and set up my bed the discomfort of shoulders, neck and arms settled in and kept me from getting a good night’s sleep. I was awake 3/4 of the night trying to find a position where the pain was minimal. I don’t know what is causing this pain. It’s been a week since my COVID booster. Is it just fatigue? Or some kind of neuropathy? I don’t know, but it turns every night into a nightmare.
I probably slept 4 hours during the night, in 2 hour segments. It would have been great to blog during my awake time but the pain took all my attention and my arms hurt to much to handle the phone and type. I am planning to visit the ER in Rawlins and find a solution to this.
Within the first mile this morning I passed this old cabin.
Ah . . . Wyoming.
Gib turns after shooting into some landscape shots of Wyoming sagebrush. You can see our lack of caution on the road. There just aren’t any vehicles.
🎶“The Long and Winding Road”🎶
If you look close you can see real horse riding cowboys herding cattle in the bottom of the draw.
Hiding from the sun under tent and umbrella, resting in the afternoon. The tent was to warm to enter.
Sunset and our two tents are finally out of the heat of the sun and habitable. It will be about 11:00pm before it cools down enough to throw my quilt over me.
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