When it’s hot in the desert it’s good to start hiking early. When you hike 37 miles the day before, it’s hard to start hiking early. I still made it on trail by about 6 am, but a few hours later I was wishing I got further before it got hot.
My first good water source was 17 miles away and even though I’d pass a few lakes and ponds on the way, they weren’t known to be very safe to drink. Rumors of sick cows and diarrhea made me ration my water.
This lake actually looked fine and there were a ton of birds in it. Even a pelican was swimming around! That was completely unexpected in the Wyoming desert.
The CDT threw a bit of a curveball at me today by going off the road for a few miles. Normally this would be preferred, but there wasn’t a trail. Just a series of sticks spaced about 3/4 of a mile apart. I spent a lot of time looking at my phone to make sure I was going g the right way. No matter where I went, there was plenty of old cow poop on the ground.
Eventually I made it through the open desert and out onto an old 4x4 road. This made the travel easier and I eventually made it to my next water source. This source was a spring near a picnic shelter at a dried up lake. I was hoping to enjoy a bit of shade while I had lunch.
Unfortunately these cows had other plans. They took advantage of the only shade for miles and we’re pretty settled in. Some hikers behind me told they covered the ground under the roof with cow pies.
I was able to find some shade next to the bathroom while I had lunch. Not the most glamorous place, but shade is shade. The spring was farther away than I thought, so I finished the water I had in the shade, then got more as I continued up the trail past the spring.
Rawlins Wyoming is right on the trail and I soon hit a highway that walked me right into town. At this point Feel Good had almost caught up to me and we met at a sports bar for our second lunch. We spent a few hours there as Cuddles and Caddyshack arrived and we eventually found a hotel room for the night.
Rawlins might be in the desert, but there were a ton of deer around. I saw a bunch while I was hiking and even saw a few pronghorn.
After dinner we went to a bar that was known to hikers to have cheap drinks. When we arrived we met a whole bunch of new hikers, including two from Seattle.
It was a fun way to spend my last night “on” the trail for awhile before I left for a wedding.