Slow getting up this morning. Yesterday just beat it all out of me. So got up, packed up, ready to go about 7 AM. Got on my bike—I actually feel OK now that I’m on the bike. Headed out of town and ran across this little saloon café. Called Miners grub stake. Stopped in and there’s one other southbound rider and some motorcycle riders, it’s run by a couple who years ago was riding Harleys from Sturgis came by here and stopped and bought the place. They have hot coffee and great smelling food, so I’ve ordered a huge breakfast and just sitting here talking and killing time.
It’s probably gonna be a very late start before I get out of here today and I would really like to make it to Pinedale but that’s about a 90 mile ride so it’s gonna be a push with this late of a start. But I can’t pass up this good country cooking food. So I’m gonna sit here however long it takes for me to get a great breakfast in me.
Talked to Jason while waiting for my breakfast. He’s an interesting guy he started north and is headed south. I think he said he’s 52 and he’s retired. He showed me a picture of where he used to weigh 400 pounds. Said he got tired of it, bought a bike, and changed his life.
9:45 AM and finally on the road after a very long slow start this morning. I spent way too long sitting at the bar eating breakfast and talking to people this morning, but I really needed that to reenergized me. So I’m feeling good I’m, already feeling the wind hopefully it won’t be as bad today, but we’ll see how it goes.
Huge climb out of town this morning right out of the gate 13% grade. Ugh
10:15 AM met a hiker going south from South Pass city this morning down to Atlantic City. He said he was going to get there and then call it quits. Said it was too hot and not enough water sources out here this time of year. I can understand after going through the basin yesterday and there’s 100 mile stretch where if there’s water I didn’t see it. And the only things out there are prairie dogs, antelope, and wild mustangs. I didn’t see a single car or human on that stretch. I’m thinking how about ninja, the hiker I saw at the beginning of that stretch yesterday and thinking of her hiking through that—gonna be tough. But lots of hackers do it all the time—they’re a tough group when you think about it. At least, on a bike, if I get desperate, run out of water, food, etc., I could probably find something within 30 to 60 miles and make there within a day at most. If you’re hiking 60 miles is a hard two or maybe three day hike. These Continental divide Trail hikers have my respect no doubt.
1:50 pm. The wind is blowing hard directly in my face m. I’m headed north and it’s coming out of the north. I’m 22.9 miles in and I’m not sure how far I’ll make it today. It’s blowing so hard the sand is coming off the road hitting me in my face and legs and feels like needles sticking me. Just in case I haven’t said this before, I will never ride another bicycle in the state of Wyoming—ever.
4 PM 33 miles in—I’m not gonna be able to make it to Pinedale today so I’m stopping at an informal campsite marked on my map—basically just means it’s a place off the road that you’re allowed to camp. In a normal day I’d be able to make the 55 miles Pinedale but this wind is making it impossible. So I’m stopping here. I’ll get up early in the morning and my goal tomorrow is to make it to Pinedale and then plan from there. If the wind is bearing down on me again, then I’ll take a hotel room in Pinedale and then take two days to get to colter bay. If the wind is nice to me I’ll keep going as far as I can.
Now about this campsite that I’m at tonight. I mean you couldn’t pick a more perfect, idealistic spot to camp out. I’m sitting here on a rock creating this update with a cold water stream running in front of me, a small little waterfall, if I had brought a fishing pole I’m sure I could have brooke trout for dinner tonight.
Looking over the stream I see a huge mountain range that I’ve been seeing for the past two days and it looks close enough to touch. I put up my tent between the mountains that stream and a huge rock formation between me and the dirt road that I’ve been on all day.
There’s nothing out here by way of civilization—no houses, no people…nothing. And to top it off, I have an app on my phone that shows me the tracking of the Milky Way. And the Milky Way will be tracking right across the top of the rock formations that I’m going to be camping by tonight. I’ll track across that between about 10 PM and and 3 AM. I don’t have Internet connection, so I can’t see if there will be clear skies tonight—lots of cloud cover at the moment—but if I’m fortunate enough to have clear skies I should get an outstanding time lapse of the Milky Way moving across my tent and over the rock formation. I’m going to set up the go Pro, do a night laps m, and just hope that it’s a clear night—or at least only partly cloudy.
I’m also going to do a video to show the campsite—it’s hard to explain—you really have to see it to understand.
So, the wind was a pain, but the up side is the place I’m camping. You’ll just have to watch the video to fully appreciate it. Not sure when I’ll be able to get the video off my GoPro and on the site, but will post some pics in the meantime.
Pics:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d7gnrd4b5yf246o/AADcuXZaGhm1L9VBcT6IyPsIa?dl=0
