Today was always going to be tricky; the services along this section were limited, as were the campgrounds and the terrain was boring and the weather hot. We set on our way, with 3.5 litres of water each, planning to make it to Jeffrey City where our map advised us we could camp in the park. There was an uphill section today, but there was a store near the top so we should have managed the 39 miles with our 3 litres of water. Some days we’d do 60 miles and not drink it all. However, we were wrong! It was so hot and the climbing relentless. There was no shade to stop for lunch and the riding was gruelling. We stopped beside the road for lunch again, with no shade and no nice store to sell us a cold drink. About 10 miles from the Sweetwater Station service stop we were heading for, we found a tree beside the road where we took some shade. Our water was very low. I had about 1/2 a litre and Ryan had less. We had our water pump that we had purchased in Missoula, but it was no use as all the creeks we had passed were dry (we hadn’t thought about that). Just as we were day dreaming that someone in a huge RV would pull up and offer us some cold drinks, a car pulled up. The lady shouted to us asking if we needed any water. How amazing! We yelled back that we did and she got out of her car and proceeded to pull some small bottles of water from a box in the back. She said that she had seen us sitting there in the tiny patch of shade and something had told her that she should offer us some water. She had driven on for a mile or so until she could find somewhere to turn around and then come back to us. How kind! She gave us four 500ml bottles. We guzzled one each there and then.
When we finally reached Sweetwater Station we were elated. For miles I had been thinking what I was going to buy; a chocolate bar, a nice juicy orange and a cold can of pepsi, as a reward for my efforts. As we got closer we realised that the store wasn’t just closed, but closed down. It looked like it had been for years! We hadn’t bothered to read the supplement that came with our map, telling us of any changes. It probably would’ve told us that this place was closed. Thankfully a little way back was a picnic area which had a cold water drinking fountain, so at least we could have a cold drink. We also raided our bags for snacks and had our second lunch under the shaded picnic area.
We carried on our journey to Jeffrey City, hoping to pitch our tent in the park and get a bite to eat in town. When we finally arrived at 7pm we were in for a shock! What a strange place?? Jeffrey City had been built in the 1950’s as a Uranium mining town and at it’s heyday in the early 1980’s, 5,000 people lived here. It had a high school, a multi-million dollar olympic swimming pool and modern duplex apartments. But now the population was 50 people and it was like something from the Twilight Zone or Twin Peaks. I went into the only “restaurant/bar” and the locals seemed equally fit for the Twilight Zone, all staring at an old TV set above my head and no one really acknowledged me. I enquired about camping in the park, to which the bar man didn’t give me much of a positive reply, but to be honest I didn’t want to sleep in the park! There was a “buffet” dinner on offer in the restaurant which consisted of a pot full of beef burgers and another pot of chilli. When I went outside Ryan had met up with Jim, another cyclist whom we had been seeing on and off since Colter Bay. He was riding with Bob and they were always away really early in the mornings, but we had been catching them up in the evenings. Jim and Bob were staying in the motel at $70 a night. It looked rough and we refused to pay for it, so we filled our bottles up in Jim and Bob’s room and got back on the road for a 23 miles cycle to Muddy Gap – the next campsite symbol on the map.
About 6 miles along the way I saw campsite sign and saw Ryan, who was a way ahead of me, pull into a side lane. Woo hoo, I thought. A new campsite that isn’t on the map. My heart sank when Ryan appeared back from the lane and advised me that the campsite was 11 miles along the lane. Oh well, stay positive and just keep on cycling. If we kept up a good pace we should be there before dark. I’ve no idea how we managed it, but we arrived at Muddy Gap at about 9pm after cycling 83 miles! It was just getting dark and we saw no sign of a campground. Thankfully there was a service station with a big sign advising it was open until 10pm. Great, they’ll know where the campground is. We pulled up to the door, only to see a sign telling us they closed at 7pm on Sundays! Ahhhh, disaster. What were we going to do. The next campsite was about 11 miles away, but it was to the rear of a café and the café would be closed by now. We tried not to panic and contemplated pitching our tent beside the petrol station, but it was right in the view of the main road and probably not the safest place to camp. We were jut about to cycle a mile further to see if the campground appeared when a truck pulled in. Ryan went to ask they guy if he knew of a campground around here. The driver was a guy of about our age called Tony. He had been in Lander for the weekend and was driving back to Rawlins. He knew of no campground around here, but if we were heading to Rawlins we could put our bikes in his truck and he’d give us a ride! Wow! What amazing luck. We didn’t want to camp beside the petrol station and we did want to get to a motel in Rawlins so we accepted the offer. This would save us 40 miles of cycling and put us a day ahead of schedule. Tony was a great guy who loved hiking. He had hiked the whole Appalachian Trail alone, which is a 2160 miles continuous marked footpath from Maine to Georgia, in winter time! He also did a lot of night hiking. Being used to hitching lifts into villages to resupply, he said that he could recognise on our faces that we needed help and was happy to repay the favour.
Tony dropped us in the budget motel area of town, where we thanked him and checked ourselves into a Travel Lodge, with a bath, WiFi and a free continental breakfast. The day didn’t turn out so bad after all!!
Total climb:
3314 feet
Summed up:
A disastrous day that would have been far worse without the help of our 2 guardian angels
Cool red hill near Lander
Our stop at Sweetwater
Our bikes loaded into the back of Tony's truck
Total Distance:
84.100 mi
Total Time Cycling:
10h 33m 13s
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