Days 28, 29 & 30 - Alcova, Muddy Gap & Rawlins

I was a bit daunted by this route through the Great Divide Basin before I started so I planned 3 days and shorter daily distances.  It turned out to be one of the more interesting and pleasurable legs of the journey so far.

Alcova: 30.69 miles - elevation ~5500
Muddy Gap: 34.39 - elevaqtion 6316 - distance to Muddy Gap actually 44.39 miles (see below)
Rawlins: 46.62 - elevation 6769
Average Speed:  9.42
Max Speed:  26.5
Total Miles:  1,005

Took lots of pictures.  My little digital camera cannot capture the immensity, the grandeur of the landscape but it is all there is.

Climbing out of Casper & North Platte valley

More of the the ~3 mile climb

In what state is the Ponderosa?

Red Cliffs SW of Casper

Then back down into the N. Platte valley - N. Platte meander - looks wonderful for a float trip, it is one long river rising in Colorado

Lots of trailers and a fly fisherman's paradise

Grey Reef reservoir on the N. Platte - camped just below the dam & watched fly fishermen wade out chest deep in the flooded, rushing waters (belows the dam)

Don't remember where this is

Looking WSW from top of 7 mile hill out of Alcova - I clocked it at 6.5 miles

Immense vista after vista

Antelope making for the water

WOW!

The boss wanted his photo taken....

and then he mooned me

I hope this is readable - all those people who went west were unbelievable

Independence Rock - most of the autographs have been weathered off - I declined to climb to the top

This route is the place where the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California Trail & the Pony Express route coincide before diverging some 100 miles west

Martin's Cove - shelter from the storm

Devil's Gate - this is the most fascinating formation.  The gorge was carved b y the Sweetwater River (which is why all the trails converged here).  Curiously, the rock formation to the right disappears into the plain less than 1/4 mile off.  The land mass must have been at or above the height of the rock formation when the Sweetwater began to carve the gorge and in the eons of time since it has all been eroded or simply blown away leaving the rocky mass. Hard to fathom the time dimension on such a scale.

After Independence Rock, Martin's Cove & Devil's Gate, things became difficult. The wind was gusting to 30 or 40 or 150 and then I entered a road construction zone. New black top, soft, no shoulder, 3-4 inch drop to soft sand and gravel, no lane markings and I had ~10 miles to Muddy Gap.  Soon though I came to  line of cars & trucks waiting for a pilot vehicle to guide them through the construction zone single file.  The flagman said I couldn't ride through and they would shuttle me to the end of the road project. So you see my rig in the back of the pilot pick-up.

This is Toni, the driver and boss of traffic control for the project.  She had to attend to her duties so I paid for my passage by moving signs and flagging traffic for a while.  She gave me a bottle of water & $20 saying bicyclists are always broke and need money - when I protested she wouldn't discuss it & insisted I keep the $20.  She also said there waqs a vacant trailer near hers in Muddy Gap where I could spend the night, which I did, for free.

Muddy Gap accommodations - Muddy Gap has only a gas station & convenience store.  I would have thought in a place so remote one might need more than conveniences

South out of Muddy Gap early

More spectacular vistas

Southward

Milestone # 2-A

There wasn't supposed to be anything there, but there it was - Grandma's Cafe - and a completely unexpected, and heavenly, second breakfast.

Anna, on the right, just reopened the place in May and will call it Anna Lope's.  While I was there 3 other cyclists stopped in for huge breakfasts  also.  A pair, mid-forties, was riding from Virginia to Oregon and a solo German riding the Continental Divide trail from Canada to Mexico, 75% of which is off-road!  About  1/4 mile up the road, a woman is trying to develop a hostel for cyclists; she's built two sizable teepees for sleeping and takes only donations.  All this in the Great Divide Basin.  I need to improve my reseaerch techniques.

Great Divide Basin

Read an article inn Casper paper about wild horses in the Muddy Gap area - I think these are some of them - no ranches for scores of miles

Approaching the southern limit of the Basin - you might be able to see the road snaking into the mountain

Another breath-taking formation

Who asked about vegetation?

Milestone # 2-B

Looking south toward Rawlins.  Met a kid along here calling himself Johnny, 23, claimed he made 130 miles yesterday - beyond my imagination

Will rest tomorrow and then head for Colorado on Monday.  I think I'm going to revise my route through Nevada - will update map if necessary.

Patrick is climbing Mount Ritter this week - hope for a safe trip and summit if all is favorable.

Stay well and keep the comments coming.