I awoke after a windy night camped less than a mile below Bridger Peak. The snow continued immediately and lasted some eight miles as trail slowly descended below 10,000 feet from Bridger. I knew, once below 10,000 feet, the snow would dwindle and no longer hinder hiking.
| 🗓️ Date | July 2nd |
| ⇢ Mileage | 34.8 |
| 📍 Trip Mileage | 1489.9 |
| ⛅️ Weather | Sunny 60°F |
| 🏞️ Trail Conditions | Eight miles of snow, cairn-led travel, a bit of paved road, dirt road for majority miles to end the day |
Once below 10,000 feet in elevation, trail cleared of snow and the forests were noticeably more arid. Below 9,000 feet, the tree line became sparse. Trail navigated grassy rolling hills with stretches of young pine and aspen groves.
The transition came when I decided to investigate an old dilapidated cabin off the trail. After the cabin, I exited Medicine Bow National Forest, and thus I entered (at least terrain-wise) Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin. The Great Divide Basin, beginning official at Bridger Pass, is a unique feature where the Continental Divide line splits and forms a ring around an arid red desert landscape. Water that enters the basin does neither flows to eastern or western drainages — it eventually loses to evaporation.
Sagebrush and desert shrubbery took over. I walked the paved Sage Creek Road for a while before connecting to some BLM dirt roads. I followed the dirt roads for the remainder of the day, walking with some old four-legged friends from New Mexico. I made it to a clean, snow melt water source to finalize my day.
Signing off,
Zeppelin / fReaK (ON a leash)
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