We knew we couldn’t escape it forever. After evading it for nearly four years, COVID finally caught up with us. That virus is no joke. It was nasty.
After 9 days of laying in bed, only getting up to pee, it was time to get out into the wilderness to finish recovering with fresh air, hard labor, and a little bit of starvation. Back to the Wind Rivers!
This loop was longer, more remote, more rugged, more rocky, more intense than the last one we did in June. It’s the kind of landscape that rips breathless WOWs right out of your chest at every turn. Each new view was more beautiful than the last. Then after seeing the tiny, diminished peaks on the far distant horizon and realizing that you have walked all that way on your own two wobbly legs… let’s just say there were a lot of high fives and fist bumps (and an extra earned ration of fig newtons)!
After the first few days, sightings of other humans became a rare occurrence. We passed the occasional through hiker along the stretch that joined with the Continental Divide Trail. Through hikers have a very different demeanor than the weekend warrior types. They are generally quieter, more reserved, thoughtful… as you would expect from spending so many months of hiking in solitude. They waved a casual hello and continued on. Then we saw no people at all. The trail became treacherous and almost impassable in places. Now this was true solitude! Exactly what we were looking for! There were only the pikas and marmots to bark their displeasure at us and attempt to steal our food.
