We Made It

I was awakened in the night by thunder and lightening and realized how blessed we had been to have good weather.  We had seen storms build and break every day but they stayed far away.  We were all eager and in high spirits today knowing we were so close.  The first four miles went fairly quickly with mostly good trail.  However I had a feeling the mountain wasn't going to let us go easily without a fight.  Sure enough we got bogged down in deep snow, sometimes icy snow again.  It was rediculous.  Down below we saw a dirt road.  After consulting our maps we learned that it led to Wolf Creek ski area and the highway which went up to the pass.  So down the mountain we went, across a river and up to the road.  I'll never complain about road walks again.  So we walked up yo Wolf Creek pass where Nugio was waiting for us.  Between him and a nice couple who had stopped, we all got rides to Pagosa Springs.  In town hikers who came in both before and after us just hugged us.  We had been concerned for each other and were so happy that everyone was ok.  I had hoped to get a group photo but here are the names:  Sailor and Pasta Alfredo, One Nail and Opus, Friendly Neighbor, Pounce and I.