Rawlins, WY to Steamboat Springs, CO

This section was full of adventure! Just out of Rawlins we met a wonderful group of gentleman from town who shared food, drink, and showed us one of their favorite camp spots. We took off the next morning and made our way back to the divide. We hiked in pine forest with intermittent aspen groves that were beautiful. We weren't as alone as we would have liked. Unfortunately, with the coming Fall, we have encountered the elusive camouflaged bow hunter. Not to worry, Brian and I have already purchased our fashionable hunter orange attire for the hunting season. We camped that night by Highway 70 and went to bed with clear skies. In the morning we awoke to a cold rain storm. We waited till the afternoon when we finally got a break to hike. The storm persisted on and off through the day, but it was nothing like what was to come. Again, we went to bed with clear beautiful skies at 10500 feet. We woke in the middle of the night to the howling wind breaking on our tent; it wasn't long before the snow began to fall. Morning greeted us with over a half a foot of snow and zero visibility. Once again we were forced to wait for an opening to hike. When we saw our chance we descended to lower ground to determine our best route to Steamboat Springs. Unfortunately, our safest and warmest route was to leave the divide and follow a country road to town. The road walking was not as bad as we had anticipated. The views were still amazing and there was hardly any traffic on the road. The temperatures at night were around 20F and the daytime temps only in the high 30s. We were very happy to descend in elevation. We finally made it across the WY/CO state line, making our halfway point official and giving us only two more states to hike! From the state line we continued towards Steamboat and were lucky enough to find a beautiful secret spot to camp. Thanks J+K for everything. The last bit of our journey into town took us by the Strawberry Hot Springs where we were able to soak the aches and dirt away. We walked into town the next day after sharing a camp the night before with a wonderful guy from NZ who was biking the Great Divide trail. Good luck Jeremy. Our arrival in Steamboat was great we were able to get a shower, some good grub, and meet some awesome locals like Corey who helped us find the gear we needed. Now the sun is out where we can see it, so it's off to Grand Lake and more adventure.