Journey Day 413 | CDT Day 76

Wyoming skyline, 1987.

8/29/87

Unable to sleep after a long day, mostly along the Sweetwater River, I decide to update up to today while listening to the river's flow reverberate off the canyon and river walls. It was a day of extreme temperatures. The morning was frozen, my tent shell iced inside and out. Almost too cold to pack, everything not covered was frosted.

Hike out ahead to keep or get warm. Onto the historic Oregon Trail with Oregon Buttes through South Pass, once a major route West. Pass markers, say goodbye to the Wind Rivers. Stop at the Mormon Trail marker, where 77 Mormons died during a pushcart trip to Salt Lake City. Pumped as other talk with weekenders on Rock Creek. I hike on, but soon talking with a cowboy in a pick-up. Others catch up, we consider his suggested route, bypassing Sweetwater Canyon, but despite increasing heat burning skin, choose Wolf's route after a break at Lewiston, a ghost town reduced to two crumbling structures. Follow Strawberry Creek's dried bed, through more cow country, along their trails when convenient. Some interesting country, but even better at the canyon, at whose head we take lunch, enjoying the shade. Then on into the beatiful desert canyon, spotting mule deer, birds in midst of rocks - our first red rocks.

Nice, but tough going. Find three Diet Cokes for later. Lose Adkinses in the heat and hiking, trying to follow cow trails. Stop at the start of a jeep road. Carl catches up. He's worried, I know they're swimming. Just as he heads to see, they prove me right. I hike on again, never seeing them again until a questionable spring. Carl and I walk and talk, eventually the canyon levels and we are back on the Oregon Trail. Find a weak spring, but I drink anyway. Hike a little ways, find a good spot along the river. Good day for wildlife: cow moose and calf, antelope, mule deer, domestic German shepherd and birds, including large wing-spanned swan?, with a white head and neck and gray-black body. Cloudy, red sunset. Storm wind mostly as I update. Stars excellent, Big Dipper flashing brightly. River background masks Carl's hacksaw. Maybe a bit of reading...