Saturday, Aug 23, 2025
33.6 miles, 4464′ gain
I was awake at 6am, and out by 6:45am after a bathroom break and filtering a liter of water. The start of my day was a very, very long road walk. Along the way, I saw 5 Great Divide cyclists on their own journeys. The two water caches along the road were in good shape, with one of them holding hundreds of gallons of cold water in coolers. It was a very welcome rest spot on a hot road walk.
Towards the end of my day, I turned off the paved road and headed towards the mountains on dirt ATV roads. I bumped into Spokes at the last water source of the day. We’d met in Hot Springs at Doc Campbell’s back in April, and he recognized me. He’s still heading north – the last northbound hiker I saw.
I pushed until dark looking for a flat spot anywhere in the slanted prairie I’d found myself. I finally found a flat spot amongst some dead trees and stopped at 8:25pm. I was off to sleep by 9:30pm.
