Back In Colorado

It feels good to be back in the Colorado mountains.  We've gotten good reports on trail conditions ahead so I'm hopeful.  At the same time I'm preparing myself for lots of snow difficulties.  We took our time in the morning packing up and getting breakfast then headed out of town.  It took two hitches to get from Salida up to Monarch pass.  I'm going to be an expert hitcher by the end of this trip!  After a nice snack at the Monarch Crest Store we hit the trail.  

We hadn't gone far when we ran into some friends hiking north who were going into town.  It was great to see them.  It was beautiful with great views of surrounding peaks but an afternoon storm was brewing so we didn't linger.  

We had perfect timing on this storm as we reached a log shelter seven miles in just as it started raining.  There's not much snow.  Yet.  After waiting an hour we hiked on and as luck would have it, reached a snowmobile cabin in the evening.  We are spending the night here and have cots and a fireplace.

It's pretty sweet.  I love the mountains and it's just great to be back here.