august 11
day 94
27 miles
total 2,473
this morning i finished the high passes in the wind river mountains,
playing around climbing and descending between 8000 and 9000 feet for way too long
before finally making one last push to the big boy.
in addition to hitting the high point for the journey,
i crossed my second continental divide!
for the first time since crossing the missouri into nebraska,
me and the water are going the same way.
during the 5 hours of trudging almost entirely uphill i found the whole thing took on sort of a dreamlike quality.
i was able to maintain my same exact pace that i always move.
uphill, downhill, and apparently at altitude.
but it was as if the extraneous parts of my brain were shutting down to save oxygen.
i just walked, step after step after step after step…
until i got where i was going.
the rest of the day was great.
mostly downhill
with steadily decreasing elevation.
two big events at the end of the day;
the damned smoke rolled back in
and i got my first look at the tetons….
a little scary.
i figure a day to get close to jackson.
then i get to measure myself against the big boys.
if i can just reach idaho,
i think i might pull this thing off!
laz