Mark’s Photos #2

It was 2019, and I was on my second long section hike of the Continental Divide Trail, having hiked from Mexico to central Colorado the year before. I was now north of Rawlings, WY. About 235 miles from my starting point in CO. I had entered the Great Divide Basin in central Wyoming. A huge desert area where the continental divide splits and goes around, rejoining further south. Rain that falls in the Basin does not flow to the Atlantic or the Pacific. It stays right there. But rain rarely falls in the Basin. The desert there was an undulating plane of red sand and sagebrush as far as the eye could see. I was in the middle of it. For me, it was the end of a long day, and I had nowhere to hang my hammock. Resigning myself to sleeping on the ground, I came upon this fence with a wide swing gate. By leaving the gate open, there was just enough room to tie my hammock in the gap between the gate fence posts. I just hoped that nobody needed to get through the opening before morning. Then I made dinner and went to bed.

There was a storm that night with lots of wind, distant thunder and lightning, and a few drops of rain. But fortunately, no one came through needing to use the gate.