SUMMARY:  Fixit really wanted to visit the historic Wyoming State Penitentiary before going to church, so we loaded packs and headed out in time to walk the 1 1/2 miles to get there. Turned out they had a tour at 8:30am, so we signed up. Wow! The guys in San Quentin have it really good compared to the prisoners here. The tour guide told lots of stories and it was a real eye-opener.

Then we went to church at Victory Baptist Church, a beautiful little old church with a classic Baptist service. Lunch next, then out into the desert we went—sometimes on dirt road, and sometimes following posts across the hilltops—till 12 1/2 miles later we reached Fish Pond spring, where the pump was not working.

Fixit did his best to fix the pump–he tried some things, but no luck, so in the end, we tied a water bottle to a trek pole and dipped water from the pond. We are camped nearby tonight, much to the disgust of the local antelope.

DETAILS:  I was going to try to sleep in, but just couldn’t do it–am so used to getting up early!  And I really like hearing the trains go by–there’s a lot of that in Rawlins!  The Days Inn had a great breakfast (we ate a lot), then we packed up and headed out to go see the historic old Wyoming State Prison, which is open starting at 8 am.  When we got there, we discovered there was a tour starting at 8:30, so we immediately signed up.  Fixit really wants to see what life was like “back then”, so he can tell the guys who are currently in San Quentin.

Let’s put it this way–the San Quentin guys have it pretty good.  The first place we went was Cell Block A, which has 5′ x 7′ cells, two guys per cell, and no lights, no water, no toilet and no heat.  But the prisoners didn’t do much IN their cells–everybody HAD to work, either in the prison itself or in the prison factory.  If they got out of line, the punishments were 1) Flogged with a rubber hose and/or 2) Put in “the hole”.  Next we went to Cell Block B, which was newer and “nicer”–it had electric lights and also heat.  Then came Cell Block C, set up for maximum security prisoners, with “death row” was upstairs.  Around 10 or so people actually were executed here, mostly by hanging, using a device where the prisoner himself actually executes himself, rather than a guard having to be the executioner.  It was a complicated device that was triggered when the prisoner stepped onto a special platform.  Eventually they switched to using a gas chamber, which is still there.

We also got to see the dining hall–everyone had to sit facing the same way, and were not allowed to talk or turn their heads.  If they did, they were shot.  We walked in the exercise yards and heard a story about one time there was a big snowstorm, and the snow built up to the point where a couple of prisoners figured they could climb up the snowbank in the yard and get over the fence….not a good idea.  They sank deep into the snow and suffocated.  We heard many other stories from our tour guide, who was a very articulate and knowledgeable college girl.  She said her grandfather was a fireman/medic in Rawlins, who sometimes got called in to the prison when there was a medical emergency.

We walked back into town and went to the Victory Baptist Church, a lovely classic old building, with an equally classic Sunday School class (I went to the ladies’ class; Fixit went to the mens’) and a classic old time Baptist church service.  Then it was lunch and back to the CDT and into the desert.

Sometimes the CDT was a dirt road, and sometimes it was “follow the posts over the hilltops”.   We stopped for supper in a very nice pine tree “oasis”.  I had been worried about it being hot, but no need!  The whole afternoon was cloudy and breezy and very pleasant.

Finally we reached Fish Pond Spring, where there was supposed to be a setup for hikers to get water via a pump.  We had planned for this, so hadn’t been carrying a ton of water.   The pump was there, all right, and a big fancy sign about all the nice things the BLM had put in place for hikers….but none of it worked.  Fixit of course had to have a go at fixing it!   He tried and tried, but no luck.  But since the spring had created a pond, and the water out towards the middle looked clear (no scummy stuff, like around the edges), we tied one of our water bottles to a trek pole, and reached out into the middle to collect water.  It was nice and cold and clear, but we still did treat it with AquaMira, just in case.

By the time we got done with all that, it was getting late and the sun was low, so we decided to stop for the day, and camped nearby, much to the disgust of the local antelope.  They would head for the spring, then see us and back off, looking unhappy.  I guess we could have camped farther away, but we were running out of daylight.