Steamboat Springs, Colorado to Encampment, Wyoming

We’ve finished Colorado! It’s been amazing, and amazingly challenging. We’ve loved spending day after day, week after week in the high mountains, but it must be said that we are now quite tired after such a tough five weeks.

So it’s been good that over the last four days’ hiking, the terrain has got a bit gentler. There have still been some steep, rough ascents, but they have been relatively short compared to what we had got used to. There have been beautiful flower-filled meadows, but as a foretaste of what’s to come, there have been longer gaps between water sources, teaching us once again to carefully check the distance to the next water source whenever we fill our water bottles.

We’ve been pushing our daily mileage too, clocking up 29 miles yesterday, which is the most we’ve done in a day on this hike so far. We have a 200 mile very dry section coming up (the Great Divide Basin) when we’re hoping to do 25 to 30 miles a day to save having to carry so much water, so it’s been good to practice!

We are now in the tiny town of Encampment, for showers, laundry and resupply. We’re pretty tired, so really looking forward to a good meal, a few beers while watching TV, and a comfortable bed.

Summit Lake, Colorado
On the way to Lost Ranger Peak
On the way up to Lost Ranger Peak
Hiking with Bourbon and Medic, from Australia
Made it to the Wyoming state line!
Or the Colorado state line, if you’re going the other way
Early morning mist over Hog Park Reservoir, Wyoming
Meadows on the way to Battle Pass
Trail magic! Cold cans of pop at Battle Pass.

7 Responses

  1. Rita Savage
    | Reply

    One of the photos taken on the way to Lost Ranger Peak shows one lonely, little, lost cloud. Well done, Neil and Tanya, and just keep going!

    • Tanya Savage
      | Reply

      Thanks Mum! We like the clouds when they look lost and lonely, not when they gang up on us to give thunderstorms!

  2. Jim Bispham
    | Reply

    you are both moving north at a good pace. Dryish section ahead to Rawlins, great town and has a great All you can eat buffet at the chinese, I went lunch and dinner. Rawlins to South Pass City across the basin is almost as flat as a pancake, hard graft on the old jeep roads, no shade, hopefully a good wind blowing to keep you from over heating and very limited water sources.

    Keep Hiking

    • Tanya Savage
      | Reply

      Thanks for your advice Jim, much appreciated as always! Will try to get to the AYCE buffet today!

  3. Robert R. Henry
    | Reply

    Yeah!

  4. Shelly
    | Reply

    You guys are so bad ass. In a good way of course . I hope your next section is less strenuous and that rain is in your future.

    • Tanya Savage
      | Reply

      Thanks Shelly! You’re pretty bad-ass yourself!

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