20th July
31.1 miles
Bushcamp (1441.4) to Bushcamp (1472.5)
The wide open plains of the Great Wyoming Basin are amazing for this guy who loves the Aussie outback. I’m reminded of home. But one thing I don’t have at home is such long daylight hours. The twilight continued till around 10pm last night. And this morning it started around 4.30am. I was awake early.
I guess there was no highlight for the day. Just long hours of walking over flat terrain. Most hikers dislike this part of the trail. Calling it boring, uninteresting, featureless. I guess I see things differently. Take the several groups of Pronghorn Antelope, the fastest land animal in North America. Second fastest in the world behind the cheetah. Or the many large meat ant colonies. Or the group of seven wild mustang horses. Or the annoying horse flies which bought me nothing but large bloody welts on my legs. Yes I do enjoy the basin of Wyoming.
My foot felt fine, a far cry from the discomfort of yesterday. I stretched at every rest stop. Although I hiked over 30 miles today a had a couple of hour long rest breaks. And my whole body felt great. I could have hiked longer but I’ve got a heavy pack with a couple of extra days food and some long distances between water. I don’t want to break.
I caught up to Zorro and another hiker, called Charge. But after we left a water source at midday they hiked faster than me until there small shapes were no longer visible. Easyrider caught up to me near the end of the day but had been pushing hard so stopped and camped early. I continued plodding along till just after 8pm. Of note I met the first true southbound hiker today who started at Canada hiking south, Mammoth. He reckons there’s one other guy just ahead of him but I didn’t see him. Not long till I start to see lots of southbound hikers.
Next – Day 95 1500 Miles
Everything you need to know about hiking the CDT:
Complete Guide to Hiking the Continental Divide Trail
CDT Resupply Guide
CDT Gear List
Amazing landscapes, Brad… kind of cowboys movies stuff… love it
Lots of movies have been filmed here. Do a Google search
It looks like he is having a pee in his water bottle… ;-)
Haha
Don’t you think southbound hikers will have to cross NM with terrible hot days ?
Amazing phtos again. Wyoming seems to be a thirsty country for those who do not eat grass.
The southbound hikers will have to deal with cold, rain and snow got the most part. Specially the slower ones, I believe it gets cold in New Mexico in October/November