Day 6, Entering the "Great American Desert"

Starting point: Casper, Wyoming
Ending point: Lyman, Wyoming
Miles: 368

The reality of the difficulty of the Pony Express route finally hit our crew today. We woke up after a lovely night's rest at a campground at Fort Casper in Wyoming. We didn't get a chance to stop at the Fort because we had a long goal in front of us: Evanston, on the other side of this expansive state.

From the beginning of the day, our crew split up. A few of us, including the two riders, headed to a local motorcycle shop to switch out some tires on Jim's bike.

It took about an hour, so while we took care of that, the rest of the crew headed toward the first destination. We met up at Independence Rock, a geological landmark that is only marked by itself. The first group of the crew totally passed it up, expecting to see a sign and wondering how large Independence Rock could actually be when they passed by the real site. They found their way, though, and before most of the tourists. They had the opportunity to spend about an hour at the site filming and chilling with some sun-bathing bunnies at the top of the massive feature.


The second half of our crew had a little time to rest and enjoy the scenery, and then we all pushed forward, reunited once again.

We passed by quite a few landmarks, including Devil's Gate and Split Rock, vital geological features that help both Pony Express riders and Oregon Trail travelers navigate through the outskirts of what would soon become considered a dangerous desert.

We continued moving forward on our route, making excellent time on paved, yet less-traveled roads. Then the GPS route took us on what truly looked like the Pony Express way. We were on bumpy, rutty dirt roads in the middle of Wyoming. Nothing surrounded us but sagebrush, mosquitoes and sky.

We struggled forward, enjoying the scenery and tensions arose because of the remoteness of the area. Finally we reached a point of no return, a steep creek that only the motorcycles could cross. Plus, it was about three in the afternoon and we still had a long way to go. We all followed the advice of the videographers and returned to the pavement.

We stopped to revamp a few times, and at one gas station we ran into a local named Pete with a historical connection. He told us that on his property, just three miles down the road, he had located an old grave from 1851, nearly 10 years before the Pony Express. A few of us were intrigued and we followed him to the location. We checked out the site, which had been worn by time and weather and suffered the marking of a high-powered rifle. I surveyed the area, imagining a complete lack of civilization and what might have caused this lonely traveler to meet the other side. After a few pictures were taken and thanks were given, we returned to the gas station and reconvened with the crew.


Pushing forward, we hoped to reach Evanston. But the more we traveled, the more we recalculated. We thought about stopping at Fort Bridger to camp and check out the site, but since we had a deadline set for 10 a.m. tomorrow morning to be in Salt Lake City, Utah, our Masters (Time and Distance, once again) were looming above us and wagging their fingers.

We moved forward. The sun was setting. Temperatures were dropping slightly. One of the riders, Greg, was starting to get a headache. Since our law is the riders' safety first, we stopped. Luckily, we found a KOA (Kampground of America) at the next stop after Fort Bridger, Lyman, Wyoming. Currently, we are only 40 miles away from our ideal destination, setting us about 100 miles away from Salt Lake. There are no sites planned in between so we shouldn't have any problems making it on time.

As for our plans after that, you'll just have to wait for my next post.

Count down: Four days, nine hours