CDT mile 1405.6, miles hiked 30
Hello Clarise
For some strange reason the Continental Divide split into a western range and an eastern range right about Rawlins, the result is what is known as the great divide basin. The basin is a huge swatch of high desert around 7,000′ but is also a big bowl between the ranges. The CDT takes you right through the basin on your way to the wind river range. Horror stories are told of the basin by previous CDT hikers: sandstorms, gnarly water, long waterless stretches, blazing sun and terrible chafing. It’s sort of like the desert version of the San Juan mountains. Today we woke up at 7 and left town at about 9:45 under a cloudy sky and low 80 degree temps.
Welcome to the basin, your gonna die
After our town road walk we entered the basin the first 15 miles took us along old roads, then a new road and then cross-country until we crested the hill and spotted our first water source a solar well and spring along with a large tank. There was a group of wild horses enjoying the grass and water where the tank was, when they saw us coming they ran up the hill, then stopped, looked us over and slowly walked away over the ridge. I love all the wild horse out here they are amazing.
Wild horses were amazing
Now seeing how it was 2:15 we all decided we should push to the next spring in 15 miles. We set off at 3 pm, the trail for the next few miles was cross-country through sagebrush, each step sent the wonderful smell of sage wafting up to us, a real desert treat and bonus it covers up our bo! We then hit the highway for a mile and again turned and went cross-country. We spotted 3 more wild horses and as they started away a 4th appeared a young colt. We then found the “road” and I use that term so lightly and trudged on to bull spring.
Delicious spring water direct from the source
We took a break at 6 pm and still had 9 miles to go. We fueled up and the set off at a decent pace wanting to make it before dark. The trail was not as easy as we had hoped and at about 9:30 we arrived at bull springs, tired yet happy to have made it. Water bottles were filled tents set up and dinner cooked. It’s now 10:30 well past bedtime so I will end things here so I can finish my dinner and get some zzzzzs.
Why the long face?
