Since I've been solo mostly. I decided on hiking out today with hikers Wings and Gofar, who were staying a few rooms over from my at the Y. I thought I'd buddy up for this section since I wasn't sure how difficult it'd be once you combine snow, mountains, and weather. We all met at a cafe/ice cream combo. Was surprised to see Dr. Bug & Stud there too. They were on the fence about whether to continue on to the South San Juans or to flip up to Encampment and hike south. I told them to keep in touch, and see them up the trail.

We a nice ride out of town with a trail angel (forgot name), who used to work for the forest service. The other two set the ride up. Wings is from Louisville, KY & Gofar from Fargo (get it?), ND. One of the first things We noticed between New Mexico and Colorado was that there was no cow poop to be seen in, on, or around the trail in Colorado. Hip hip hooray for clean water! We also noticed that snow and thick forest don't mix well after we missing a junction not paying attention. We decided not to turn around, followed by thinking it was a good idea to cut back to the trail up a steep snowy forest hill. A word of advice I overheard at some point about the San Juan's was, "To take the path of least resistance." Maybe we just need some more miles to let that phrase sink in, especially since I'm starting to feel the altitude.

Spent the night amongst a cluster of lakes, each of us on the non-windy side of bushes.