Day 74 Lander Zero

2 miles

Last night I made the decision to skip The Great Basin and hitch to Lander. It was a difficult decision as it breaks my connected footpath from border to border for the second time but it was the right decision. It means missing a 118 mile section of trail. The forecast ahead for the next 3 days was for temperatures into the high 90’s to 100. To Celsius people there was going to be a run of 36-39 degree days. I pictured hiking through the open desert country for 3 to 4 days and it horrified me. It was going to be miserable and as high school friend reminded me – this is about the adventure, not about survival. 

I considered walking through the night to get the distance done however there is no where to hide during the day. Sleeping in a super heated tent would be impossible. And there was no way I was attempting a 24 hr challenge like many of the folk half my age, plus it would still mean walking through the heat of the day for at least a day. Sure I could suffer through but for what? 

Most hikers will still hike this section, seeing it as just another brutality of the CDT to push through, not me. I told myself if this hike ceased to be enjoyable I wouldn’t proceed. 

I could wait out the heat at a fair expense sitting in motel rooms for a few days but I don’t have the time to loose 3 or 4 days and Rawlins is not the town to do that in. I’d rather skip the basin, gain a couple of days by getting ahead and get straight back into enjoyable hiking in the Wind River Range. I know what I’m missing and I simply don’t care – I’ve hiked similar country in similar conditions multiple times. Not this time. As they say, HYOH: Hike Your Own Hike. 

So I wandered up to the highway and was on the side of the road by 8am keen to get this travel day done early and not be standing in the sun through the heat of the day. Although early morning it was already hot and my shirt was covered with sweat from the short walk out of town. It didn’t take long to dry off.

With “Lander, CDT hiker” written onto my Tyvek ground sheet and my thumb out I was hopeful. After 20 minutes a car pulled up. It was Terry (Water Boy) and his wife Jo, with fellow hiker HazMat in the front passenger seat. Both Terry and Jo are local trail angels who keep one of the new water caches topped up. HazMat had been staying with them over the weekend and they were headed direct to Lander to drop him off. (Terry is the fella in the yellow t-shirt at the watermelon eating comp in a previous post.)

The timing was perfect. In the back seat with Jo the conversation flowed. It’s easy travel with people who know the trail and understand hikers. You feel like long lost friends immediately. There is not the same standard meet and greet get to know you chat or awkward pauses that can occur when accepting a ride from strangers, even though they were strangers. I met Hazmat at breakfast Saturday morning so sort of knew him anyway. The 2 hour ride passed quickly. My longest hitch ever. 

I was dropped at the local outfitters Wind River Outdoor Company, just across the street from the motel I’d stay at, the Rodeway Inn, and purchased some bear spray which I need moving forward into Grizzly country from here to Canada. What would be highly illegal at home it was completely normal over here to just walk in and purchase what is essentially a party pack of OC spray, no questions asked. 

And after 10 weeks on trail my shorts are falling apart and I’ve dropped so much weight off my waist they are falling off me. Normally a men’s medium I tried on a few pairs of men’s small, all of which were too big as well. With no other options I had to start going through the women’s shorts options to find something that would fit, ending up with women’s small. With the shorts having a 28.5” waist that means I’ve dropped 3” off mine. That is crazy! The exact same shorts situation happened on the PCT so I’ve been here before. Thru hiking will certainly loose you weight but to do so in such a short time frame is not recommended! Looks like I need to start adding olive oil to all my meals for the extra calories. My legs are solid muscle but the rest of me is wasting away. I’ll have to watch this closely from here on in. 

From the outfitters I could have headed straight back out on trail as Hazmat was being dropped back out by Terry & Jo but it’s another scorching hot day and I’ll wait it out another day. Initially I had planned two days off in Rawlins as a halfway reset so I guess this will count as day two off trail. By skipping the Great Basin it puts he ahead a couple of days off where I thought I’d be this far into the trail. 

I walked across to the motel to see if I could store my pack for the day, to free me up a bit to wander about town before check-in, but the lady on the desk had me checked-in straight away. Bonus!!

Across the road I saw a bunch of other hikers hitching to get back on trail on the highway and all had rides within 15 minutes. This is very promising for tomorrow’s hitch out of town. 

Now another day of eating calories and resting up to recharge for the Wind River Range ahead. And hiding from the heat.