Day 26 (June 27): We crossed the GREAT DIVIDE BASIN in Wyoming! Our longest day on the divide: 133 MILES.

Numerous thunderstorms, hail, fierce winds, mud that made trails impassable and finally sunshine to finish off a wild day! Dear Basin, you made us earn the miles and showed a rather unusual side!

We head out before sunrise to ride a bit before fierce headwinds start. It's cold, dark and calm - only a few trucks pass us on the lonely highway.

We reach the Basin at dawn: it's cold and magical. Fog hangs over the distant hills, we hear birds sing and coyotes howl! We have never heard anything like this before and take in that magical - and bit scary - moment.

We start seeing a dark and cloudy sky - it has rained throughout the last days and the roads are wet and muddy. This is quite unusual: The Basin is in the Red Desert of Wyoming and it's an endorheic basin, in which none of the water falling as rain to the ground drains into any ocean, directly or indirectly. It just gets absorbed by the ground in this usually hot, arid environment!
The first of many rain storms starts.

We see wild horses, pronghorn, birds, and mule deer. Views are expansive in this high desert environment dominated by sand dunes, bluffs and alkali flats. We see occasional uranium ore deposits and a few oil and natural gas wells on the miles and miles of lonely land. It's magical and strange. Soon the headwinds start and the rain turns to hail. At mile 101, with 32 miles to go, the trail turns into a mud slide. Our tires, shoes and drive trains clog up and there is no way forward or back. We wait for the rain to stop and the sun to dry the trail. About 2 hours later we can move on and ride into Atlantic City with blue skies, sunshine and rainbows. What an adventure!
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