We decided to make it another long day today in order to get into Steamboat Springs a day earlier than planned. After several days in the desolate Great Divide Basin, it was nice to start off the ride by passing through Aspen Alley in the Sierra Madre Mountains. The beautiful scenery continued as we rode through Medicine Bow National Forest into Colorado and rode into Columbine, CO (not to be confused with Columbine HS) just north of Steamboat Lake. Luckily the timing of our trip perfectly conincides with the changing leaves in the Rockies so we should continue to enjoy some amazing views. Our last stop before Steamboat was Clark Store, essentially an entire town contained in a single building - convenience store, deli, bakery, ice cream parlor, library, post office, video store, liquor store, general store, pharmacy, etc.

We woke with a sense of purpose this morning - a package was waiting for us at the post office, we needed to stock up on groceries, and we had seen a sign for a Thai restaurant when cruising into town last night.  First stop was the Rawlins post office where we retrieved our support box, mailed some unwanted items back home and talked with locals about our journey. 

Today, we ventured into the Great Divide Basin for one of the most remote and desolate parts of our trip. From a geographic standpoint, the basin is quite the conundrum. From all other standpoints, it is almost completely uninteresting. Here, the continental divide actually splits into two roughly parallel segments before reuniting further south. Between the two branches of the divide lies the Great Divide Basin, an endorheic drainage basin from which no water escapes to either ocean.

We started out the day with the goal of covering half of the remaining 130 miles to Rawlins across the barren High Plains of Wyoming. Early in the day we passed the site of Willie’s Handcart Disaster and the point at which the Oregon Trail, The Pony Express, Mormon Trail and the California Trail all cross. About 30 miles into the days ride the wind began to pick up. It felt as if we had a headwind no matter which direction we turned. We pushed on for another 15 miles as the wind got stronger and stronger until, no matter how hard we pushed we barely moved. It was getting close to sunset so we decided to stop for a rest, wait for the wind to die down after sunset, and ride under the full moon to our planned stopping point - the only place with water along the whole stretch. We set up Daniel’s 4 season expedition tent and all crammed into it while waiting out the wind. We figured we’d take a little nap while we waited and next thing we knew, all five of us had slept a full night packed into a two person tent.

After a morning treat of coffee from Mike and Emily, we set out for a day full of history. First, we reached South Pass, perhaps the most important crossing point through the Rockies during the 19th century. Indians, fur trappers, the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Pioneer Trail, the California Trail, and the Pony Express all used this location to travel from the Atlantic to Pacific watershed.

After crossing the divide at the pass, we stopped in South Pass City, an old Wyoming ghost town.

Leaving the comfort of the Boulder Lake Lodge was a difficult decision this morning. In the end we all agreed we couldn’t pass up a day of good weather. After saying goodbye to our new friends (Casey, Larry, Sharon, Paul, Clint, Thomas and the rest of the crew) we rode the 10 miles back to the main road, Wyoming’s scenic Route 353. It wasn’t long before ran into fellow thru-riders Ben and Daniel.

The sky looked ominous all day as we procrastinated leaving, stopping by shops in town, working on the blog at the library, etc. We contemplated staying around for another day, but the sun broke through the clouds and we set out down the road into what we anticipated to be four days of no grocery stores, restaurants, or any other services. About 10 minutes down the road, at the edge of town, the wind picked up and the clouds came back, but we continued on.

We woke up early this morning knowing we had a long day ahead of us.  Since we stopped short of our goal  yesterday after exhausting ourselves with the wind and pilot car incident, we needed to cover more than 70 miles and make it over a pass before reaching tonight’s destination of Pinedale, WY. We made it over Union Pass in good time and pedaled on towards Pinedale. Unfortunately the downhill we expected after the pass was hardly downwards, and the strong wind made it even worse. Still, we pushed on motivated by the thought of a warm hotel room and a bed once we got there.  For most of the day we paralleled  Wyoming’s beautiful Wind River mountain range along Route 191.

We all, apparently, got out of bed on the wrong side this morning. It wasn’t until we tried to leave the comfort of the Togwotee Mountain Lodge that we would realize this however. Our day started with a delicious breakfast of eggs, toast, hash browns and bottomless cups of coffee in the Lodge. While looking over the day’s maps we were surprised by the sight of fellow thru-riders Deborah and Ralph, especially after reading of their troubles from the last few days. We exchanged stories before heading off to pack our bags and depart.

After heading out from Flagg Ranch this morning, we ran into another Great Divide Rider, Peter, from Germany. He is also using the Extrawheel trailer so after sharing some horror stories (his caused a bit of a crash on a prior day), we moved on.