29.5mi

I spent much of today chatting with Rims. Topics ranged from talking about important functions of the body while at altitude, such as having a low hypoxic drive coupled with having a heart of large volume, something typical of world class athletes, nutrition . The Pandolf equation, essentially a way of calculating energy expenditure while walking/hiking at various grades. Also, RPE- Rating of Perceived Exertion, CPK- process capability, EOPT- forget the acronym. On another string of conversation, Rims shared thoughts recent books he read; Hillary Cash, I'm fit for Command,

Building a Democracy, The Rise of the black flag, Road to Surfdom. Naturally the conversation shifted to the healthcare system.

Amidst talking and walking we crossed paths with a fella named Andre, he was training to attempt to set the record of the Colorado trail. We all explained what the snow conditions were like in trail south, and hypothesized whether or not snow would be gone by the time he starting gun sounded in two weeks. He seemed very optimistic, he likely has to average over 50mi a day in order to succeed.

In conversation and out of contact with our GPS' we walked a total of about a mile the wrong way on dirt roads after we missed junctions, distracted by ourselves. Later in the day the same thing happened with water sources. Luckily I spotted a Creek on the topo map that we were to pass by and luckily tracked the pesky liquid down. The lack of water down at lower altitudes caught both of us off guard after not having to worry about finding it with the snow melting everywhere at around 11,000ft.