CDT + GDT: Rawlins to Lander – Does the Basin Ever End?

Resupply 16 | Rawlins to Lander

Day 65, 34.4 miles.

On the CDT generally and in the basin especially, I’m walking through a lot of private land through an easement which lets hikers pass through so long as you stay on the road or trail or within 30 feet of it. But the trail here is sometimes so hard to follow that I’m not really sure I’m following the rule. Easements are why I walk through so many gates and why I see cattle everywhere. Sometimes a private owner hasn’t agreed to an easement, which is usually why I have to walk the highway or take a very long way around.

The landscape today was incredible. It stretched in every direction as far as I could see. I thought wow, so this what it means to walk across a country. It really is this vast. I really am this small. What a privilege. Here are some things you can do if you’re the only person for miles around. You can host an outdoor concert and belt out whatever songs at whatever volume. You can scream all your deepest secrets, hopes, fears, dreams, and frustrations into the wind. You can choose any place you like to pee or to dig a cathole even if there is no cover anywhere. You can conduct a symphony with your trekking poles. You can have a dance party in front of a herd of cows. Or try to win a staring contest with an antelope. You can be as weird as you want. It’s your room, if your room stretched 20 miles in any direction. And yes I did use my limited service to find and read a paper on the geology of the basin. Laugh if you want but I like learning.

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Day 66, 36.3 miles.

 On day one of this hike I said I don’t do well in heat. So I’m really glad that my days in the basin have been mostly on the cooler side, especially with the wind. In fact yesterday I wore only my alpha fleece without my base layer to let the wind ventilate the fabric. I’m starting to feel a bit stiff so I’m stretching more and that seems to have helped reduce the pain in my ankle. In my reading about the basin geology yesterday, I learned that on the afternoon I left Rawlins two days ago, I crossed the Rawlins uplift which is the southeastern boundary of the basin. Yesterday I crossed the Ferris Dune Field which is where an ancient river would have drained out of Sand Gap 50 million years ago, towards what’s now the North Platte River, before uplift 10-8 mya in the NE corner of the basin tilted the whole thing so nothing flows out anymore. It’s also why there are very few water sources here and I had to take water from an algae covered muddy mess. At one point I heard mosquitos buzzing and I got excited cause if there’s mosquitos there’s water somewhere. Today and tomorrow I’ll walk along the northern boundary of the basin towards the southern end of the Wind River Range which borders the Green River sub basin. I could see about 4 days into the distance where the Wind River Range sits. I did spend a lot of the day walking through sand in the dune flats. I don’t know why people talk about enjoying long walks on the beach. I probably walked 10 miles of sand and I was constantly trying to escape into cow paths through the sage brush instead of trying to slog through the loose sand. Today I saw a flock of sheep and a sheep dog. I love seeing dogs doing what they’re meant to do. I feel like I’m kinda the same.

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Day 67, 36.3 miles into Lander.

 Yesterday night I had great views of the Milky Way from the wide open sagebrush plains. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in logistics and forget this is why I’m out here. But I guess that’s true off trail too. Today I was starting to get a bit claustrophobic in the basin. Not because it was too small, but because I felt too small. I felt trapped in this place with no terrain features, no shade, no water, and sometimes no trail. There was no respite from the relentless wind and sun. I felt like I was working hard and yet I couldn’t see much progress. Like I was finally facing the vastness of my endeavor and it overwhelmed me.

Often when I tell people I’m walking to Canada, their eyes go wide. But to me, on trail, Canada is very abstract. All I focus on is the next town I’ll stop in, the next water source I’ll fill up at, or the place I plan to camp tonight. But today I really had to confront how far I was walking. And anyway, on the day I hike into town, any mileage for the day feels too long. If I have twenty miles into town, I’ll be impatient at mile 12. If I have 9 miles into town, I’ll be craving real food by mile 4. Today I had 36 miles into town and I wanted to get in by dinner time. By mile 26 I was ready to be done for the day. I just wanted a shower and I wanted to stop walking. But you always get there eventually. Liz and George who had hosted me at their ranch south of the border a week ago are hosting me again tonight at their primary residence in Lander. Coincidentally my last shower was also at their place, at the ranch south of the WY-CO border. Looking forward to taking it easy tomorrow and getting ready to enter the Wind River Range.

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Day 68, 0 miles.

 I took my second zero of the trail today at Liz & George’s place in Lander. George had to get off a PCT attempt in 2022 due to injury, so he let me resupply from his leftovers and his bear spray for grizzly country. After getting breakfast in town and stopping by the grocery store, I made boxes to ship to myself for Wyoming and Idaho. George left to return to the ranch, but his neighbor let me borrow a car to drop off the packages at the post office. It’s my first time driving since getting on trail. His neighbor is a doctor so I talked to him about my ankle, which is on the mend. When I got back all I really did was rotate from the bath to the hot tub to the deck to the couch. I rolled out and did a lot of stretching and general catch up. I’m always more tired in town, maybe because my body can finally relax or there’s a lot more stimulation. I am so comfortable it’s crazy. 

xx

stitches