CDT - Day 88 - Leaving Rawlins
Goodbye, Rawlins! As much as I enjoyed my zero there, I was ready to get back on the trail. I had finished all my town chores the day before, enjoyed some good food, and relaxed in the hotel hot tub.
After breakfast, I stopped at Walmart to pick up bandages and antiseptic for a scrape on my knee. My shorts kept rubbing against it, so I needed to cover it up. Once that was taken care of, I packed up my gear and headed for the trail. Since the CDT runs right through town, all I had to do was walk up the US 287 bypass and continue to the trailhead north of Rawlins. Hiker Greg arrived at the trailhead a few minutes later, and I gave him his fuel canister. We spent the rest of the day hiking together through the Wyoming sagebrush desert. The trail meandered across the open landscape, and we managed to lose it several times. Without our GPS maps, it would have been easy to wander off course. The weather was pleasant overall—just a little warm with a steady breeze.
After 23 miles, we camped near the new Rawlins-sponsored water cache. Volunteers from the city refill it almost daily, and we happened to meet a friendly couple who had just arrived to top it off. Around 8:00 p.m., Second Breakfast, Beacon, and Larry rolled into camp and set up nearby.