31: Into the Great Basin
I left the Sweetwater campground early and enjoyed some very pleasant riding across the southern tip of the Wind River Range, which reminded me of nothing so much as being back in the Vedauwoo area in the mountains west of Cheyenne where I grew up.
I arrived in South Pass City a little before noon, and enjoyed the state park’s shade, Wi-Fi, and a few sodas from their gift store. Chain lubed and sodas consumed, I willed myself back into the sun and baking heat. Temps remained in the 90’s through the rest of the day under an unrelenting sun on a landscape denude of any shade. Having learned my lesson from the Grand Loop Race (you can’t really wait out the heat… just dial back the intensity and keep rolling), I spent the rest of the day slowly grinding.
Having seen relatively few hikers on the CDT so far, I seem to have finally caught the main group of southbound hikers. Reactions to my presence on the trail have varied, from indifference to curiosity to confusion that I am not on the Great Divide route. I have so far encountered zero equestrian users on the CDT itself, and wonder if/when bicycles will be a more common means than horses for the route.
Having grown up driving around the perimeter of the Great Basin, it comes as a shock to experience vast and desolate it truly is. I don’t think I’ve traveled a landscape with so little shade—the scrubby sagebrush (the tallest thing around) growing only a foot or so high in a smooth, undulating landscape devoid of rock outcrops or other shady topography.
I had intended to sleep under the stars, but ended up pitching my tent tonight to keep my things from blowing away. Classic Wyoming! 😀
