Day 54 - this is what I thought Wyoming would be like (32.5 miles)

July 2, 2021

Miles: 32.5 miles

Steps: 69,222

Hard to sleep in as I was camped right by the road. I was able to leave the RV park by 7:30am to walk next door to the gas station for breakfast of donuts and chocolate milk.

Then it was time for the fun part, hitching back to the trail. Before I could even put my thumb up a semi truck driver stopped and picked me up. However he was only going about halfway. I figured that was better than nothing so I took it. Very nice guy, lived in Oklahoma for a short time.

There was a large parking area where I got dropped off and figured I would have no trouble at all getting the rest of the way, I was wrong. I stood on the side of the road for at least an hour. I had one guy stop to ask if I was ok. He was going in the other direction but said he was coming back later and would take me if I was still there. Finally a pickup truck stopped and jumped in the back. Was starting to worry if I was going to have to walk the 5-6 miles up the road.

Just before 10am I got back on trail. Had a quick downhill on the highway before joining a trail up the mountain towards a radio tower 3 miles up trail and 1,300 ft of climbing. Not to bad of a climb as half way up I joined a dirt road that I would stay on most of the morning.

Right near the top I ran into an older lady who was just out day hiking. I ended up talking to her for a few minutes. She told me she saw me trying to hitch on the road and drove by. She said there are a lot of escape convents in the area and thought I might be one. She then tells me if she knew I was a hiker she would have picked me up. What’s more likely looking at me, a convent or hiker?

Then left the dirt road and back on a trail heading down. It was really nice and level so I made good time. Then at my first water stopped I ran into Roger That. He had hiked out of Steamboat Springs with Swift. They did 40+ that day so I figured Roger That would be a good one to hike with. He left the water before I did but soon caught up just as I was leaving the woods and hiked most of the day with him.

Once out of the woods was wide open space. This is what I thought Wyoming would be like.

First started hiking over these small ridges before heading down to the road which took all the way to camp, almost all on dirt roads.

Came across some wild horses. They seemed very friendly and I guess they wanted some food as they came right up to me.

Starting to enter almost desert like conditions as the water sources will start getting farther between and it should get much warmer. Today wasn’t too bad as lots of clouds. This was the first time in like 9 days it didn’t rain on me.

I should be able to knock out big mileage as not much climbing, just rolling hills.

Found a nice campsite on the top of the hill and got to see another amazing sunset walking into camp.

Lastly, I saw a snake towards the end of the day, only the 2nd one I’ve seen all trail.