SUMMARY:  We spent the morning today walking the pioneer trail—the California Trail and the Oregon Trail were still together. The pioneers described the scenery as being like a great sea of grey-green, undulating in great billows, with rocky islands here and there. Yes!  That’s exactly what it looks like. Their goal at this point was the Sweet-Water River, and that was our goal, too. We cheered when we saw it—a beautiful blue river winding among green meadows and trees.

After lunch, by the river, we headed for Atlantic City—several bikers we met said “Great food, and you can stay for free in a big teepee”. Well, due to a loud, rowdy party at the saloon next to the teepee,  we went to Wild Bill’s Guns & Ammo and rented a nice, quiet cabin instead.

DETAILS:  A good night’s sleep, and we feel WAY better this morning!  Actually, it’s like that pretty much every morning–we go to bed at night with sore feet, sore shoulders, sore hips….and then wake up feeling fine.  And for much of this morning, we felt like we were on a “living history” trek, following the same route the pioneers did.  At first it was a combo of Oregon Trail and California Trail, but finally the Oregon Trail split off and went on its own.  How do we know?  Because there are cement posts with the trail names on them along the way!  The pioneers described this land as being like a great, gray-green, undulating “sea” with islands of rock here and there.  Well, it hasn’t changed!  And another fascinating note is that the whole ground is covered with many-colored bits of flat rock, and the gray-green sagebrush is very dwarf and low.

Fixit and I had fun talking about the pioneers as we walked along, and we tried hard to imagine the huge herds of bison that once roamed this area.  Even though it looks rather barren, I could not help but think that in a way this land is also beautiful, sort of like a giant abstract watercolor painting.

The morning was very cool and pleasant till about 9:30, and then it really started heating up.  Sure enough, right on schedule at 11:00, the wind came up, and blew fiercely for the rest of the day.  Typically it dies down around 6:00 pm.  Wind or no wind, we pushed pretty hard, because our goal was to have lunch at the famous Sweetwater River.  And it did not disappoint!  What a welcome sight–blue water winding through green grass and shady trees, in the middle of a desert!  We had thought about getting water there, too, but there were so many cows around that we decided, “Forget it–only 11 more miles and we’ll be in town.  We can survive.”  So we sat in the shade under the bridge and watched fish jumping in the water while we ate our lunch.  It was tempting to jump into the river ourselves–it was such a hot day–but we now had set our sights on reaching Atlantic City by tonight.  Several bicyclists we met told us “Go to Atlantic City–there’s a great saloon/restaurant, and you can stay in their big teepee outside for free.”  So that’s our plan.

When we crossed the river on the road bridge, we soon reached a ROAD sign about Atlantic City.  The CDT, however, leaves the road at that point and wanders off among the sagebrushed hills, on very rough tread.  It took Fixit and I about half a second to decide “Phooey on the trail–roadwalk!”

So in spite of the afternoon wind and heat, we gave it our best, even though we were awfully low on water.  Thankfully, along the way, we were able to get a bit more water from some people in a car, and from a guy on a bike.  Atlantic City, it turns out, is down in a valley, and the downhill to get there is pretty steep.  It’s a very old town, and sadly, every other house is for sale.  We headed straight for “The Miner’s Grubstake” saloon to get something to eat.  We found the staff all in a tizzy getting ready for a big birthday party that’s being held tonight (for one of the local ranchers).   But inbetween tearing around trying to get everything ready, they were very kind to us, and we had a great meal of buffalo burgers, salad and pie.  Our entertainment was watching the beginnings of the cowboy birthday party.  Ummm…..it seems that cowboys are really into whiskey.  They were sure going through a lot of it really fast–one bottle after another emptied.  Whoa.  They also had a cowboy singer, and he was really good.

But the lady in charge of the saloon knew we were planning to stay in the teepee and she came quietly over to us and said, “It’s gonna be really loud for a long time tonight.  Why don’t you go over to Wild Bill’s Guns & Ammo–he’s got a couple of cabins– and stay there?  Otherwise, you may not get much sleep tonight.”  So that’s what we did.  And we had time to wash clothes and take showers, too, before we collapsed on the very comfortable bed in a cozy cabin.  I’m glad we went to Atlantic City instead of South Pass City.  From what I hear, there’s no place to stay or to eat there, whereas here, it’s great.  I’m so glad we met the bikers who tipped us off to come to Atlantic City!