Day: 075
Date: Saturday, 20 July 2024
Start: Sage Creek Road
Finish: Rawlins
Daily Kilometres: 52.2
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2224.0
Weather: Mild early, then warm and mostly sunny, with a late afternoon thunderstorm and rain.
Accommodation: Motel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pop tarts/Muesli
Lunch: Snacks
Dinner: Cheeseburgers & fries, choc chip cookies.
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - trench feet still painful.
Highlight: We had camped last night with just a cupful of water between us and were hoping that we would be able to find water along the road walk today, though we knew it was scarce. We had been told that some “trail angels” had left a couple of coolers with water for hikers along the route, but we didn't know exactly where or how to find them. Therefore, just as dawn was breaking and after 90 minutes of walking, we were very happy to see a small sign pointing off the road to water for hikers, and even more happy to find some ice cold cans of Pepsi in the cooler along with the water.
Lowlight: We could have done without the steady rain for the last few kilometres of today's hike.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
Both of us were awake around 3am and, conscious of the long day's roadwalk ahead of us, we decided to pack up and were hiking by 4am on a very quiet road under a starry sky with the moon just setting in the west behind some thin clouds. It was very peaceful and we only saw one vehicle in the first few hours as the road undulated through rolling sage brush-covered hills. Water was going to be an issue all day, and we were very happy to find a cooler with water around 5:30am (see above).
As the sun rose, there were more vehicles, but it never became very busy and there was plenty of room to walk along the roadside. It was, however, very exposed and we could often see the road winding through the hills kilometres ahead. We were making reasonable time but, as the day wore on, the sheer immensity of the 50km+ roadwalk with packs weighed down on us, literally. We were carrying more food than needed and Dave was doing his best to eat down the weight in his pack at each break. Julie, who had painful trench feet from wearing wet shoes and socks a couple of days previously, applied Body Glide to her feet regularly to ease the friction on her tender feet.
Around midday, a ranger pulled up to empathize with us and check we were OK, which we appreciated. We found another water cache put out for hikers with 32km to go to Rawlins and loaded up with sufficient water to get us there, adding to our pack weights.
In mid-afternoon, a motorist who had seen us earlier in the day, stopped and offered us some ice-cold water, which we gratefully accepted. The kindness of strangers helping us yet again along this stretch of road.
We soldiered on and, eventually, Rawlins, along with a busy freeway and freight rail line, came into view. So, also, did some thunderstorms, strong winds and rain. As we made our way through the residential streets of the small town, Julie found a wallet loaded with cash and cards in a small park. Then, when we reached the main street, she Googled the location of the town police station, which turned out to be nearby, and dropped the wallet off there.
Our motel was on the other side of the town which, like many in the US, had an old main street with many shuttered/defunct businesses and, on the edge of town, new business zones with a Walmart, supermarkets, fast food outlets and motels.
We reached our motel, dripping wet, around 6:30pm and checked in for three nights, giving us two days off as a reward for the effort of the last five days and, particularly, the last two, and for reaching the halfway point on our journey to Canada. Julie's feet and Dave's body will benefit from the two days rest.
We enjoyed some burgers from the nearby McDonald's for dinner and had a relaxed evening, looking forward to a sleep-in tomorrow.