16th July
39 miles
Bushcamp (1372.6) to Bushcamp (1411.6)
I woke early and hit the trail. I could see fresh footprints. Another hiker was nearby. But who could it be. I couldn’t identify the tracks.
Initially there was a lot of blown down trees. At least 10 miles. Finally, finally, I was in the basin. That long hot flat section of Wyoming. I couldn’t be happier. But there was a problem. I faced a 38 mile section with no water. I’ve never hiked that far with no water sources. I was in new territory.
I’d hiked about 12 miles to my last water source. A small creek that flows under a road. I rested and cooked up a meal. With no water tonight I cooked my dinner meal for lunch. I filled up 5 litres of water and drank over 2 litres of water to hydrate myself as much as possible.
I was off. 38 waterless miles to the town of Rawlins. I was hiking in a minor dirt road. The hiking was fast and easy. The pain in my heal was non existent. I was happy. And the weather was cool and overcast. Things could not be better.
After a couple of hours I caught up to another hiker. It was Bambi. Nobody catches Bambi. Bambi catches other hikers. He is a speed hiking freak. We hiked together for a while until I saw a stand of trees on the open plain which made a great place for my ablution break. I didn’t see him again for the rest of the day.
I was in a great mood. The road was easy hiking. The weather cool but not cold and the flat terrain had me dreaming of the Australian outback. I walked till late. My body was strong. My body was filled with energy. My body didn’t want to stop hiking. Sunset came and went. I still didn’t want to stop.
At 9pm I decided that night hiking on a road was no longer safe. Being a Saturday night it would be likely that a drunk driver might not see me. I made camp and took only minutes to get to sleep. A memorable day. And my longest day in the CDT. 39 miles or 63km. I had 2 litres of water left and 13 miles in the morning to town.
Next – Day 91 Rawlins Town Day
Everything you need to know about hiking the CDT:
Complete Guide to Hiking the Continental Divide Trail
CDT Resupply Guide
CDT Gear List
Great job!! Hope you foot will keep up and won’t bother you too much. Enjoy beautiful Wyoming.
Me too. Thanks
63km???? are you freaking serious?!?!?! wow!!!!
It was flat easy hiking and I felt strong.
You found the recipe : fill up with red blood cells in high CO. 63km with 3 liters … nearly same as my car.
Strong mind/will required to face the view of that straight path going to the horizon. Appealing … seen from my couch. But appealing !
The big skies and endless horizons of Wyoming are amazing so far
Dont get complacent with the stretching it will come back if you stop
I’m stretching a lot and I’m carrying a golf ball instead of a tennis ball.
Are you using a gps? Is that how you know how far you walk?
I use a GPS mapping app on my phone called Guthook. It has all the routes, distances, water, info etc.
That is a big day, for sure. Great images – as always.
More big days coming up
Wow 39 miles! Well done dude :-)
Thanks, that’s enough fur one day
you ain’t kidding when you say flat
Yep, it was awesome
Wow, what a productive day. Way to go.
Many more to come
Cattle = Wyoming traffic jam!
Indeed, I saw a poster of that on the wall of a hotel