Great Divide Basin, Continental Divide

I’m excited to enter Wyoming. Perhaps not the best-known state in the Union, it has a rich history and an even richer natural heritage. Wyoming has it all: forests and peaks, mountains and deserts, grasslands and tundra. The CDT allows the hiker to sample a great range of this thrilling diversity, and I can’t wait to explore it all.

This first section of Wyoming is, honestly, a cold welcome. The prairie stretches out flat in front of me, a dun-coloured grassland, with little in the way of landmarks save the odd truck stop, each with a huge Stars and Stripes billowing in the wind. I resolved to simply put one foot in front of the other until finally, the elevation began to rise and I meandered through the rocky valleys of Battle Pass and the Sierra Madre Mountains.  

As I came down through the mountains, I arrived at the relatively low-lying South Pass. History hums in the air here; this is the point where the Oregon Trail intersects with the Continental Divide. The Oregon Trail was a 4,100mi (6598 km) route taken by pioneers travelling in ox-drawn covered wagons from Missouri to Oregon. The route followed ancient Native American trade routes and was most active in the period between 1830 and 1870 when tens of thousands of people migrated from the East Coast to the opportunities offered by the Wild West. The pioneer’s journey was more dangerous than mine, with fatalities, especially from disease and snake bites, common. But at the end was land, enough to raise a family, keep a ranch and escape the dreary poverty of the East Coast and Midwest. Many people living in the American Pacific West trace their lineage back to these pioneers, and I imagined their journey as I crossed their ghostly path.

Eventually, the landscape opened up, and I arrived at the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming’s Red Desert. This huge, treeless, waterless expanse is where the Continental Divide splits in two. Rain falling on the ridge to my east flows towards the Atlantic and to my west into the Pacific, but the water falling straight into this endorheic basin stays here, not draining into any ocean. The landscape is harsh and flat, covered with sagebrush bushes. This large bush, with silvery-green leaves, is found everywhere in Wyoming and perfumes the air with a spicy, aromatic scent. I like it because the plant perfectly reflects the qualities of a good Continental Divide hiker: it’s tough, hardy, and makes the best out of difficult situations. It can photosynthesise even in the darkest, coldest parts of winter, it’s drought resistant enough to survive in the high desert, and, like a botanical phoenix, it takes advantage of forest fires to slowly regenerate itself over 20-100 years after it has been burnt to the ground. There’s a lot to admire in this tough little plant, and it inspires me to spur myself on and reach the next rest stop, the historic South Pass City.