Continental Divide Trail – Day 79

August 10, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 31.2 / 1,374.8

I had a great campsite in the trees last night and woke up to a dry tent this morning. I was up and on the trail ready for a big day.

The trail followed a ridge line for the first 3 miles this morning and had some great views of the valley below. It then joined a forest road and eventually onto paved Hwy 71.

The road started out in the foothills and after several ups and downs began a long descent into the Great Basin. The terrain changed almost instantly to a sagebrush desert.

I had about 27 miles on pavement today and my feet were getting pretty sore as the day continued on. I was able to get water at creeks and springs along the road and even drank an ice cold 1/2 liter left in a cooler by the road by a trail angel.

About 5:00 I was startled by a large rattlesnake that had crawled out on the pavement to absorb some of the heat from the asphalt. I’m glad very few car’s travel this road because I jumped right out into the traffic lane when I saw the snake. I took his picture (ready to strike) and gave home a wide berth as I went around him.

About 6:30 I found a place to camp on some BLM land and setup for the night. It has pretty windy and ended up eating in the tent to keep dirt from blowing into my food.

The wind is still whipping my tent around tonight. It may be a noisy night in the desert.