Day 43 – On the road again
August 4, 2012
Start: Pinedale, WY
Finish: Little Sandy Creek
Today’s miles: 49.8
Total miles: 1260.3
Splats: 0
Divide crossings: 0
Wildlife: lots of pronghorn
I’m back on the uni! All systems seem to be functioning. Changes to the setup include an actual sheepskin seat cover and a rear bar with bottle cages. Altogether, I have 8.7 liters of water carrying capacity on the uni. I was worried about it being too hard to mount or ride the uni with that much weight attached to it, but it seems ok.
Today’s riding was easy—30 miles of pavement and 20 on smooth, hard-packed dirt. Around mile 40, an SUV drove by, headed in the opposite direction. I watched in my mirror as it stopped, then turned around. We chatted, and then they sped off to their ranch a few miles down the road to retrieve cold beverages for me to enjoy. I consumed one with them as we talked and saved the other for camp.
I arrived at my planned destination much earlier than expected; it wasn’t even 5:00. I contemplated moving on. A group on horseback came by and told me that the creek a few miles ahead was flowing and that there was good camping along it. I was 80% decided to push on when I saw something rolling down the hill towards me. Melanie is the first divide rider I’ve seen outside a town in a long time (I think since the night I shared the campsite with Curt, Aaron, and Lee back before Whitefish). It’s been nice to have some company this evening, and it’s funny and weird to hear how she’s heard about me ever since Whitefish. She’s also seen my picture in a post office I’ve never been to (hopefully, not a ‘wanted’ poster).
I’m excited to enter the Great Basin tomorrow. It’s a vortex where water enters, never to be found again; think of it as a bowl. Two divide lines here go around the rim of the bowl. Water that falls in the basin drains neither to the Pacific nor the Atlantic. Most of it probably evaporates before it has a chance to get anywhere. That or it soaks into the ground to be drunk up by whatever plants are hardy enough to grow here. The basin is the main reason I waited in Pinedale to fix my handlebars rather than riding on without them for a while – they’re where I carry half of my water!
