Day: 083
Date: Sunday, 28 July 2024
Start: Atlantic City, WY
Finish: East Sweetwater River
Daily Kilometres: 30.7
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2440.4
Weather: Cool early, then warm and sunny with a short-lived cold rain squall in mid-afternoon.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Fruit, egg & bacon roll, cinnamon scroll.
Lunch: Snacks/trail mix
Dinner: Rehydrated meals.
Aches: Dave - many niggles; Julie nothing reported.
Highlight: It was very nice to get into the conifer forests and meadows of the foothills of the Wind River Range after days of hiking through the treeless sagebrush plains and hills of the Great Divide Basin.
Lowlight: Nothing in particular.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
A wild storm came through during the small hours with heavy rain and very strong winds which blew a number of things around outside the cabin. We were very glad we were not camped in our tent in an exposed location.
Around 7:30am, after a good sleep-in, we had a delicious breakfast on the verandah of “Wild Bill’s” where we were joined by the man himself for an interesting chat while we ate. Turns out he is the same age as Dave, but a few months older.
We did well to enjoy the food while he described in graphic detail the sawmill accident in which he lost a finger and mangled his left hand just a few months ago. Fortunately, his right hand, and particularly his trigger finger, was unharmed as he is an avid hunter. Last night he told us about shooting, from his front door, a large black bear that was going through his garbage
We began hiking at 8:30am, with the first 8km being a gravel road walk, involving some significant climbing, to the now tiny historic mining town of South Pass City. Back in the mid-19th century gold rush days it had a population of around 3000 and must have been a sight to see, but now there are just a few permanent residents plus some summer vacationers.
Part of the old town is now a state historical park, with tours of the old town and mines offered in summer. We stopped in at the visitor centre, which welcomes CDT hikers, and bought ice creams and drinks which we ate for morning tea at a picnic table with a power outlet set aside for hikers passing through. Very thoughtful.
From South Pass City, the trail returned to the sagebrush plains for a few kilometres and was quite scrappy walking, but it improved as we approached the mountains and attractive rocky outcrops adorned the scenery.
After crossing Hwy 28, we really did start to get into the mountains and forests again and it was a very welcome change with more to look at, and some nice views to the craggy peaks, and pleasant meadows to traverse. Also welcome was the number of streams we crossed meaning that water will be readily accessible for a change.
In mid-afternoon, the sky suddenly clouded over, a strong gusty wind arrived, the temperature dropped markedly, and a cold rain began to fall. Fifteen minutes later it was gone, the sun was out and we were warm again. Such rapid weather changes have become very familiar to us in the mountains.
We found a nice place to camp near a river around 6:40pm on a beautiful peaceful evening and an owl is hooting nearby as the blog is written around 9pm. We are a little higher (8300’) and the night promises to be cool.
We have now recorded 1500 miles on the CDT.
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