well, after a few months of planning and preparation tomorrow is the day i leave to walk across wyoming. i am starting in the north eastern corner and will finish in the south western corner, where if i am still going strong i will continue south east through utah into colorado…i have the trip mapped all the way to denver. but i am unsure of how taxing a journey of this sort is going to be on my body, seeing as i am backpacking and camping the entire way.
I will post more details when i get back, or if i have the chance to stop at a library while i am on the road i will give you an update on how it is going.
I could be gone for a week and a half to a month…all depending on how it goes… i am excited i have never done anything this big before…
well, i need to go try to get one last good nights sleep in my bed before i leave tomorrow morning.
i just realized i forgot to say why exactly i am doing this…which is why i made the topic in the first place…
i am doing it because i have been doing alot of geneology recently, and i have been finding lots of my ancestors were mormon pioneers, and since i already walked the mormon pioneer trail(part of it, only 50 miles) and i wasnt that impressed with it since it was kind of easy. i really want to get a better idea of what they went through and i want to get to know my ancestors. so basically i am walking in their memory. when i get home i will post more about where i walked and experiences i had. also i will try to post the article from the local newspaper.
Ah, that makes more sense for the choice of an East to West route. Otherwise it would be more sense to do a North to South route along the continental divide and in the mountains.
I did a cross country bike ride that went through Wyoming. The mountains are the best part. The painted hills in the foothills are very neat. Then it turns into prairie and gets plain.
Have a good hike and I hope you’re able to make it all the way cause the best part is going to be at the end.
UPDATE:
Hi everyone, i am still out in wyoming. right now i am in landers, i have been having trouble with the Bureau of Land management and my dad drove out(luckily with my lap top) here to get me off of land i wasnt supposed to be on. I have been talking to people and it looks like i will be able to drive back to where i was and continue my journey. I have walked close to 90 miles thus far and have a ways to go.
Problems i have encountered are lots of dust, heat, BLM people being jerks, and one rancher being a jerk.
Its going well though, i am tired, smelly, hot, and dirty.
I have to go talk with some people now about an alternate route so that im not on private land that the BLM doesnt want me on.
well im back, it was quite the adventure. the BLM are jerks but i eventually got their OK to continue on my route(i had to alter it a tiny bit). those guys really love their sage brush…
i ended up walking just shy of 170 miles in 8 days.
i learned alot, pioneers were crazy. they really must have believed what they were walking for was true.
it was a fun experience.
being alone for that long really lets you get to know the way you think a little better.
anyways.
im back.
maybe pictures and map route later.
it was definatley a huge challenge.
my longest day was about 27 miles. the rest i walked about 20 miles.
my pack was light, i only had 3 pairs of clothes(only 2 in the pack), a lightweight sleepingbag, lightweight 1 man tent, butane camp stove, i had 2 packs of instant oatmeal per day, 3 granola bars per day, 16 packets of instant soup, some packets of gatorade, some first aid stuff, some trail mix and other dried fruit. i was able to get water at camp every night(via water pumps) and was able to carry 6 liters of water( i used three 2 liter camelbak bladders)
the heat was killer every day, the wind was dry and would blow dust into my eyes, nose, and mouth…i finally figured out that if i got my bandanna wet and wore it cowboy style it kept almost all the dust out…
the landscape was mostly boring, there were a few cool things i saw along the way. the solitude was nice most the time, i wasnt alone long enough for it to really get to me.
the last four nights i slept under the stars. it was absolutley amazing, i could sit and pick out all the formations i knew. i almost had trouble falling asleep at night(despite being exhausted) because i couldnt stand to close my eyes when i knew what i could be looking at. i saw several shooting stars everynight. the best thing though, was the last day at the very end there was this nice big river that i jumped in.
i wouldnt have traded the past week for anything, i just wish i would have been able to finish the whole trail i mapped. i only ended up finishing about a third of what i wanted to.
i didn’t exactly give up, the BLM among other private land owners wouldnt allow me to cross their land. I want to try to write letters to all these people and convince them to let me walk across their land so i can finish my journey