If you were section hiking the Great Divide Basin (Encampment to South Pass City) and could pick your ultimate weather/water window, when would you go?
I have the luxury of picking my window of opportunity and would appreciate some advice. (I’m thinking 6/1sh?)
Matt
Lots of people had to hike in heavy snow when they tried to flip (early June) from the Divide basin into the mountains just before (SOBO) encampment.
I would plan on Sept. or mid. June. The short section from Encampment to the Basin can have lots of snow.
The other option is to skip the section once you start climbing out of the basin and just hitch back to Rawlins. There is some traffic on the last gravel road before the mountains(I don’t recall the name).
David
If I member right we reached the basin in august. I thought it would be torturously hot, but it turns out it is a high plains & instead we got a heavy duty hail storm & yogi & dewey had to hide under a bridge while I was still having my last beer at the Atlantic city restaurant & laughing & laughing at their predicament! It never was uncomfortably hot & i went my own way along the Mormon trail to the Sweetwater store & Baroil & bushwhacked south over dry lakes etc… til I rejoined CD trail where it spilled out onto the highway.
gingerbreadman
Thanks for the first-hand impressions! I clearly need to rethink my ‘by-the-book’ plan!
Matt