The best and worst sections so far: the winds and the basin (Dun Dun Dun …)

Beanie baby here! I am making a special guest appearance to write this blog post, but I have also been helping in others from behind the scene.

Rawlins greetings. We spend a zero here, but we lose our double zero in Pinedale, so Cookie Monster’s mother was very friendly. It was very fun to have it here, and we did a lot of kitchen and eating, as well as watching movies, playing board games and going to the Mountain Man Museum.

Somehow we even find the time to make mosaics in the local art store! The people there were so knowledgeable and helpful, and this was a very funny activity on a rest day, very different from hiking, which was refreshing.

Another wonderful thing about Pinedale was the team store, which was so carefully supplied with things that hikers really need! However, we find a pickle with our shoes. We asked for new online pairs, but they did not arrive on time in Pinedale (they were trapped in Salt Lake for 4 days), so we spent hours by phone with Fedex and Altra. The best solution was to buy some new ones in the city exchange store, although unfortunately they did not have the most Cushier model (the TIMP) that we were looking for for the basin, so, after trying almost a dozen other peers, we settle for another pair of lonely peaks (which we had previously been using) and ordered a new pair of schedules to the Atlantic city.

As much as we hated leaving the sweet city of Pinedale and say goodbye to Cookie Monster’s mother, it was time for the most exciting section so far: the winds! Full of rolls of cinnamon, fruit, yogurt and carrots and hummus, we embark on the path near Green River Lakes.

The first day was Cruisy, so we were grateful to give our late start outside the city. We planned to prepare for the alternative of the backpack tail the next day, of which we had heard great things. However, time forecasts simply were not in our favor.

It was disappointing not to be able to take this alternative so recommended and seemed such a surprising and fun challenge, but we were glad not staggering for a Scree field while we saw and listened that thunder rolled.

For our part, we still had to escape from some storm clouds while traveling through land still quite exposed in the red line. This was one of our first real CDT storms: so far we have had a luck with the weather.

The following days were a pleasure, with more lakes we could count, beautiful rugged peaks and always changing and challenging land.

It was also very fun for me to return to Wind River Range, since I had spent a NOLS formative backpack of a month as a 17 -year -old child. It was wild to return to some of the same paths and reference points as a backpack person and developed much more experienced.

A curious observation was that we saw so many hikers who are not from Thru (almost dozens every day as we approached the circus of the Towers), and most of them were a) men yb) using ultralight equipment through a hiking team. Why so few women here? And since when did it become the hiking team in the mainstream? It was a strange experience.

We approached the Cirque of the Alternative Towers with a much better weather window, and we were very grateful that we could enjoy this spectacular landscape in safe and clear conditions.

This turned out to be one of the most striking areas we had seen. We had to upload some steep passes, but it was very rewarding.

We even saw some climbers moving in Pingora, the prominent mountain in the form of a cone.

From there, we continue with the alternative, but we decided to take another lateral search for Clear Lake and Deep Lake, which were strongly recommended in Farout comments.

That choice turned out to be fantastic, since it took us to one of the best camps in the CDT by far!

Here we have an incredible sunset, we have to take a dip in this virgin lake and obtained a last look at the Cirque de las Torres. After a last great pass, it was time to get closer and more to the imminent basin of the great division …

The last day and a half in the winds turned out to be quite pleasant, since the high desert opened before us. However, it was hot, and we felt a feeling of feeling about what was coming.

Although we had sent packages to Atlantic City, we decided to make an impromptu stop at Mander at night, since we had time and wanted to explore this great mountain city. Lander was easily one of the best cities of trails so far, with a delicious food, a kind of artistic atmosphere and really cozy people. We had fresh bread, frozen coffee, pancakes, French toast, quiche, pizza and a vegetarian hamburger and fries.

Between the food, the royal bed, the city’s mandates and the cell service for planning, Lander Vioó a lot. Fortunately, we have a trip directly to Atlantic City, which saved us a few miles. There we languish a little in the General Desert Springs store, where we collected our food packages and new shoes!

While we start with the hope that the basin would be crucuja and that the cooler climate is maintained, but by when we were without walking the night later that night, our hope had vanished.

To describe the basin in a word: gloomy. Landscape, sensation, water sources, everything. However, we obtained thanks to the help of audiobooks, some beautiful sunsets and caches of water left by very friendly people.

We seemed to get everything: challenges of water, heat, sun and wind that we expected, but the storms and the rain did not do it! We had to flee from a storm one night to cover ourselves in some shrubs, since there are practically no trees as far as it is seen in the great divide basin.

We learned that walking on the road (even earth/gravel) is a double-edged sword: we can move much faster and crush the big days (25-30 most of the days in the basin), but our bodies of the repetitive movement and the hard surface hurts.

We were eager to end this section and much need some food and rest in Rawlins. However, our plans were frustrated when the entire city experienced an energy cut for almost 18 hours, which made us unable to go to restaurants or grocery stores and there is no food. This did not sit well with hungry hikers. Once the energy blackout was resolved, we were able to do the tasks of our city as laundry and a lot of eating.

Although we still have more from the basin, we are counting the days and miles until we reach some more hospitable mountains and see our families in Steamboat Springs.