Day 18: It’s too bad binoculars are heavy
Tuesday, July 6
Atlantic City, WY to A&M Reservoir in Great Divide Basin
78.5 Miles, 4196 ft climbed, 1159.4 cumulative miles
After a delicious breakfast with Carmela, Bill, and Chris of Wild Bill’s Hiker and Cyclist B&B, we stocked up on “day food” (what we call the food we’ll be eating while riding, as opposed to breakfast and dinner food) at Carmela’s small but perfectly targeted hiker/biker resupply pantry. She even had Little Debbie oatmeal pies — enough said!
Our ride started on foot, pushing our bikes up the steep 0.7 mile hill outside Wild Bill’s. We each had 7 liters of water and two days’ worth of food. Riding across the basin is challenging (and admittedly a little stressful) because for the span of 135 miles between Atlantic City and Rawlins, WY, there are no services at all (i.e. places to get food) and only 3 reliable sources of water. Also, the winds can be very strong and either in your favor or against you, and powerful storms move through with high winds and heavy rain creating unrideable muddy conditions.
Our plan was to ride 77 miles and camp at the second water source, A&M Reservoir - a man made habitat project. Not even a few miles outside of Atlantic City, we already felt totally alone within the vastness of the huge sky and sagebrush sea. We made bets on how many cars we’d see and then had to decide on rules like does it count if they’re parked instead of moving and do ATVs and motorcycles count. Irena bet 2 and Sarah bet 9.
At mile 22, we stopped at the Diagnus well, the first reliable water source. It is an artesian well that the BLM and other groups partnered on to pipe up and create a wetland for wildlife and livestock. We each downed extra water from our bottles before refilling and filtering. It was surreal to see this gushing pipe of water and surrounding wetland in the middle of the high desert.
With our stores back up to 7 liters each and the wind at our backs, we continued on. There were huge badger holes in the middle of the road for most of the basin (see pic). And there is some large-ish critter who poops neatly in a little pit they dig or scratch. Something to Google when we have service again!
People often talk poorly of the basin, saying it’s boring and unattractive. As we rode, we felt totally the opposite. It was so cool. It was unlike any riding either of us has ever done. The land undulated in gentle waves with varying degrees of scrub brush that ranged from bright green rabbit brush to slate blue sage and yellow buckwheat flowers. The rocks and sand ranged from white to red. We both noticed that as morning changed to afternoon, the distant mountains and horizon took on blue and purple hues. Pronghorn antelope bounced by (seriously - they don’t seem to ever walk - they are either standing still or bouncing and leaping!) and little fat lizards that looked like clumps of sand skittered across the road. With each cresting of a hill, we’d both say out loud “wow” as we marveled at the new horizon and sheer expanse of it all. It was truly spectacular.
The only people we saw in 10 hours of riding were 9 bikepackers, 5 people on motorcycles, and one car (so Sarah won the bet). And after scanning the land for wild horses all day and monitoring their tracks and poop in the road for miles, we finally saw a small herd of them just before we got to the reservoir. So beautiful.
Six other southbound bikepackers were camping at the reservoir as well so we chatted with them while eating dinner and taking care of all our daily housekeeping (“bikekeeping”?) like filtering water, packing up food so it’s protected from critters and ants, washing out clothing, etc.
Tomorrow we ride toward Rawlins where we will bid the basin goodbye.
Published July 7, 2021