(Day 19 – September 8) Sweetwater Creek Bridge to Rawlins

Odometer: 1100 – 1222 ( 122 miles, 196 kilometers )

I woke up at about 5:45am to find frost on my tent and frozen water in my water bottles. I am now worried that my filter, which should not be frozen, may not function as it should.   Now I won’t be able to trust the filter alone and will be forced to use water treatment capsules.

The friendly doctors were already up with a fire going. They greeted me and shared some freshly made hot chocolate and some hot water for my oatmeal.   This was a big help because it meant that I did not have to fill and start my stove.

After I had my porridge I packed up all my things and set off.

The road follows the Great Divide and is as remote and desolate as I could imagine.   It leaves an impression that the country is largely unused. One vehicle passes every two or three hours.

The landscape is flat and dry as far as the eye can see. This is up to the distant mountains on each side of the “basin” and to the horizon along it’s length.   The vegetation is dominated by sagebrush. I am still not sure whether the cattle eat this or not.   The bushes are interspersed with grasses and dusty dirt.

Cattle dung is visible every 2 feet or so in various stages of decomposition; some I would guess are many months old.  The doctors, who have a cooking fire every night, had tried to use the dung to burn but they discovered that it smelled very bad.

The day was good again. It was sunny, without much if any cloud, and cool with a very strong westerly wind which I took advantage of.   The only disadvantage was the severe effect of the cross wind whenever the route turned south. Several times the wind pushed my front tire where I did not want it to go.

Wild life was evident again today. Pronghorns and wild horses this time. The horses were just as elusive as the pronghorns and did not allow me to get close enough for a good picture.

McCoy’s day ended at a reservoir  68 miles from Sweetwater. I arrived at the reservoir at about 3 pm and debated about continuing to Rawlins another 56 miles. After having a bit of food and refilling my water bottles I decided to take advantage of the strong westerly winds (which may not come along every day) and continue to Rawlins.   I estimated I would arrive in Rawlins between 7 and 9:30 pm which required lights.

I arrived in Rawlins at 7:30pm tired and shaky from the long ride. I had two hamburgers – one was not enough – and settled into the Holiday Inn Express. I had to do laundry and catch up on the blog while I had the benefit of electric light.