Fri, 12 July - Leaving Rawlins on the Ferris Mtn Route

Dropped off my clothes at the laundromat and went for breakfast. At breakfast I had a fun conversation about the trail with the two men at the next table and to my surprise they picked up my tab for breakfast.  Amazing generosity - trail magic!

On the way out of town I saw a historic marker describing the Rawlins Paint Mines and wondered if that was the cause of the alkaline water?  Passed the old penitentiary with its neat old buildings but it was getting late and I missed the tour.

The Ferris Mountains Route was not what I had hoped.  Miles and miles of dry dirt roads with very soft sand that made for very rough difficult walking.  The many springs on the map turned out to be warm cow pools hard to get to with all the cow footprints and mud and basically almost the same as taking water from the cow tanks.  Yuck.  

Made it to Rendle Spring around 9pm hoping it would have good water but it was another cow hole.  Got excited to hear a windmill chugging away but a big letdown as the pump rod was disconnected.  Feeling very fatigued and wondering if I have something different then just bad alkaline water.  Lots of cows today but also many elk that ate fun to watch.  And lots of small armored lizards?  Looking forward to getting into the Ferries Mountains and the trees.