Town to Trail

Our town stop turned into a nice nero.  We hiked. 2+ miles hitched all the way to Salida and got town chores done yesterday.  Today we slept in and relaxed but still made it back to the trail.  There were three boys at the hostel who had just graduated from high school and had never backpacked before but were hiking the Colorado trail.  They were nice kids and fun to talk to about their experiences.  We went to the river park downtown and watched kayakers shoot the rapids and blew bubbles.  

Then we found a gluten free bakery for Pounce.  Yet we were still able to break free from the town vortex and hitch to Monarch pass.  

We were picked up by a couple from the east coast on vacation visiting family.  Just in time too as a thunderstorm started.  With rain and stormy clouds all around we had to hang out at the Monarch Crest Store for awhile before hiking out.  But hike out we did, four miles to the top of the ski area.  The mountains shrouded with clouds are beautiful.  

We are sleeping in a ski arming hut tonight.  Pounce is a ski patroller and thought it might be open and yep, it was.  So no setting up tents in the rain.  We will be dry in our five star trail accommodations.