The Basin

Across the desert of Wyoming
The Basin is one of the most challenging parts of the Divide. It’s 225 miles with over 11,000 ft of elevation gain across an area with limited water and only one possible food store en route. It’s brutally windy, and can be both baking hot and freezing cold. It divides opinion. Some love it for its sheer isolation and beauty, others loathe it.

We had five of us to work together across this wilderness, setting off from Rawlins on Sunday morning, preparing for 4 days, with supplies for 5. We had to carry a minimum of 6 litres of water. And enough food to get to the other side. I was extremely anxious as I had no idea how I’d cope with such a challenge but I sensed we were all in the same boat. The biggest stress is water resupply – there are reservoirs and occasional streams from which we can filter water for drinking, but they are unreliable. Each day was dominated with wondering where to find water.

I won’t bore the reader with a day by day account as, well, it was the same every day – ride, rest, repeat. The trail was mainly hard gravel, so that was wonderful, tho we experienced serious washboard and rocky sections that threw panniers off bikes and loads of close encounters with the gravel! The hills were unrelenting- just one after the next after the next….but all manageable in the granny gear. We rode really well as a group – some were better at downhill, others climbs, others in to the wind -we worked off each others strengths.

Every day we cleared 55 miles or so, for the 4 days it took. We’d try and get camped up around 4 if possible. There are no campgrounds per se, just wide open desert. The first night we located a reservoir and managed to find places to camp. The temperature on two nights was below freezing so that added new challenges to our day…and our nights! On another night we camped right in the wilderness with no protection from the howling wind….that was a long night! And last night we camped by a stream behind a huge outcrop of rocks that offered some protection from the wind but meant our bottles were frozen solid in the morning. We were however blessed with the weather overall – it never got so hot we couldn’t ride, or too cold we were stuck. And no rain!

The one place where we were supposed to get supplies was in a tiny hamlet called Atlantic City….pretentious name for a crazy collection of ramshackle buildings from the ‘wild west’! All the shops were shut but one tiny place was open which gave us coffee on the house and made breakfast burrito’s! We’d struggled for 20 miles that morning to get there with misplaced optimism about finding something more but we were excited and relieved with this one tiny shop.

They say a picture paints a thousand words so I’ll let the photos talk for themselves. It was a truly immersive and beautiful experience, despite all its challenges and hardships. I could never have done the Basin on my own that’s for sure, so was incredibly grateful for the comradeship of Mike, Jake, Rob and Scott. On day three Jake had decided he needed a break so he didn’t leave with us – that was a tough day without him. But I’d gotten to know Michael well – he’s a great cyclist, highly educated with a very dry sense of humour, and his company and confidence in us as a team was an important ingredient in getting us there.

We arrived in Pinedale exhausted and somewhat perplexed by what we had just done -it was so strange to be back among buildings and people and traffic. I was really struggling with saddle sores as I had not had water to properly wash myself, so was super relieved to get off the bike after such a challenging ride.

Scott, myself and Rob stayed at a Warm Showers host while Mike stayed at a hotel. What was great was that Jake rocked up later afternoon – he’d gotten a lift after injuring his Achilles so had made up the time to get here the same day. We all went out for overpriced pizza and then crashed!

Rob and Scott are heading to the Yellowstone park for a few days hiking, then meeting up with their wives in Jackson until the 5th July. Mike is not sure what’s next and Jake and I are taking a zero day, the first since Steamboat! We will then head towards the Tetons taking probably 4-5 days as there is serious elevation. We are staying with a friend of Jake’s in the Park. He’s then turning south and I’ll find a way north, hopefully to meet Charlie in Montana 😊.

Great video by Rob