Brave the snow, retreat to town, repeat as needed (South fork to Creede to CDT Mile 1078.8)

So for the moment it almost feels like I’m on a tour of small town Colorado with a bit of hairy snow hiking and mountain climbing thrown in to spice things up.

We stayed at the rv park in South Fork the night of the 14th and 15th of May. The 15th was a lazy day. I went to the local grocery store in the morning and got supplies and spent the rest of the day hanging out in the community center near my tent. I typed up my post and got it online, watched the Beverly Hillbillies and cooked canned ham and macaroni and cheese for dinner. Not a bad day at all.

The morning of the 16th I got up and prepared for the 22 mile road walk to Creede. It was to be a long day of walking a highway with no shoulder but I was looking forward to Creede because it was an old west town where John Wayne had filmed the Shootist. There was a hotel in town where you could rent the same room he had stayed in. The only thing was I couldn’t get ahold of the place to reserve the room. I left them a message, emailed them and had my friend Facebook message them but all to no avail so I figured I would try to call them on the way.

As soon as I left South Fork I lost phone service and never got it back. (It would be nearly 6 days later before I got service again) so I would just have to hike and hope. So down the road I went. Walking the highway wasn’t great but this is Colorado so the scenery wasn’t bad. The highway followed the Rio Grande and passed between canyon walls. When I got tired of highway miles I hiked the train tracks for a while and crossed the Rio Grande on the trestle.

A little after 3 I walked into Creede. I didn’t have a map or signal so I strolled along until I saw a sign for the Snowshoe Lodge. This was what I was looking for. I went up to the office and it was closed. There was a sign on the door with a number to call for assistance. It was a completely different number than the one on the website and Facebook page. I didn’t have anyway to call it so I walked down the road to a gas station and got directions to the visitors center.

When I got to the visitors center it was closed, even though it was only 330 and the sign said it was supposed to be open till 4. No worries though the Guthooks app said there was free camping in the baseball park at the edge of town and the visitors center had free WiFi that you could use even when it was closed so I googled directions to the ball field.

While I was using the internet a lady opened the door and asked what I was doing there. I explained I had just hiked into town and that I couldn’t get ahold of the hotel I had planned to stay at so I was getting directions to the free camping at the ballfield. She told me that she didn’t want hikers camping there anymore and that there was a place to camp 2 miles further north. I told her I needed to resupply and wanted to check out the town. She said she’d call the hotel for me. She got ahold of the place and the guy said that he had my room and he would meet me at the hotel office in 15 minutes. Awesome I was going to sleep in John Wayne’s old room! After She got off the phone the lady told me she was the new director of the visitors center and asked why I thought I could camp in the park. I told her that it was on our hiking app and hikers had apparently been staying there for years.

She told me to hold a minute and started calling members of the town council and telling them that hikers were trying to stay in town and she didn’t think it should be allowed. I told her that if they weren’t allowing hikers it would hurt the outfitters business in town among others and she made it plain she didn’t care abou that at all. Obviously she didn’t want us there. I politely excused myself and walked back to the hotel.

When I got there the owner told me he had just rented out the John Wayne room to somebody else but he would put me in a different one. I told him never mind the only reason I was spending that much money for a night was because of the famous room. He told me sorry and apparently he hadn’t gotten any of my messages. He had just bought the place two weeks ago and wasn’t sure how to check the email or Facebook and he was only taking calls on his cell phone which wasn’t listed anywhere. He promised that if I decided to stay another night in town I could have the room tomorrow I just needed to let him know by ten the next morning. I was planning on hiking out the following day but thanked him and told him I’d let him know.

Oh well, I walked back across town and found the San Juan outfitters and asked the guy there where hikers usually got a good deal in town. He told me to camp at the park. I explained about the visitors center director and he said that was crazy people always camped there even locals in the summer. He told me he would ask around but if I was looking for a room I should try Aspen Inn two blocks up. I thanked him and walked over there. The place was more of an Airbnb and there wasn’t really an office but one of the people staying there called the owner for me. The owner agreed to meet me outside in 5 mins so I went back out to the sidewalk and waited.

While on the sidewalk the guy from the outfitters ran up and said he had gotten ahold of the sherif and it was perfectly fine to camp in he park. Ok cool. I waited another 15 mins for the hotel guy and he didn’t show so I started walking back to the park, on the way a super nice lady pulled up in her car and asked if I was a CDT hiker. I told her yes and she said there was another one she had met a couple of miles out of town. It had to be Widesky I had left him in South Fork that morning and thought he was staying another day but apparently he had decided to go ahead and hike to Creede. She said she was going back that way and would let him know I was downtown. I thanked her and she drove off. Meanwhile I had noticed a sign for the Sheriffs department and I went in and verified it was cool to camp. It was totally cool with them and they didn’t know why the director of the visitors center was having problems.

As I walked out a truck pulled up and asked if I was the guy that had been inquiring about the Aspen Inn. I said yes and he told me he had a room with one queen bed that was usually 120 bucks plus tax but he would let me have it for 50 tax and all. I quickly agreed. I asked him if it was ok for my friend to crash on the floor if I could find him and it was totally ok. I hopped in his truck and we drove across town to see if we could spot Widesky but didn’t see him. Then he drove me back to the hotel and he opened the icecream, comic book, and rock store next door which he also owned and ran the hotel out of. I paid for the room and it was awesome. Instead of a room number it was called the starry room and had a cool mural of the night sky painted on the wall.

I dropped off my bag and walked out to Kip’s Grill where I could eat and watch the sidewalk for Widesky. He came up while was having dinner and I filled him in on my adventures in town so far. He got some food and then we went back to the room for the night.

The 17th we awoke to snow. It was covering the town. I walked to the Kentucky Belle Market and resupplied for the 110 miles to our next planned stop at Monarch Pass. As soon as we left town we would be heading up to San Luis Pass at over 12000 feet the, highest we had been so far. The storm intensified as I walked back to the room so I figured we’d probably end up waiting it out in town.

I knew that the room we were in had already been prebooked online that day because Jim (the awesome owner, had told me) but no worries I had been promised the John Wayne Room across town at the Snowshoe Lodge.

At 9 am Jim’s store opened and I was able to use the phone to call and tell them I was coming. I called the lodge and told the owner I was going to take him up on his promise and stay the night. He said “oh sorry, I forgot and just gave it to someone else.” It was time to give up so I told him goodbye and he said “wait I’ll give you a different room “no thanks, again, I was only spending the money to stay in the John Wayne room” : oh well call in the morning by ten and I’ll make sure it’s available. ” and around and around we go.

So I told Widesky we were out of luck for a room and we both stared at the falling snow. Neither of us wanted to hike up into the storm. “Let’s go camp at the park” ok I replied and off we walked. On the way he went in to the Sheriffs department and verified we had permission and we did, so we sat up our tents on the baseball field and relaxed for a while. I told Widesky to avoid the visitors center lady cause I knew she would cause problems if she found out we were still in town.

I walked around town for a while and went to the underground mining museum which was cool and then found Widesky and we ate lunch at the hotdog stand that turned out to be owned by the Mayor. He gave us free drinks and told us that if we needed showers while we were camped at the park, we could go to the local gym. I went back to my and spent a couple of hours reading and waiting for the visitors center to close at 4 so I could sit outside and use the free WiFi without being bothered.

Widesky showed up a while later and said he had been to the visitors center despite my warnings and let slip that we were camped in the park and the lady had flipped. There was nothing I could do about it so I just told him to wait and see what happened since we had the Sheriffs and the Mayors permission maybe nobody would listen to hiker hating crazy lady and we’d be left alone.

I walked up to the center and sat on the bench using the WiFi. About 30 mins later a lady in a Ford Ranger pulled up with Widesky in the passenger seat yelling ” she got us kicked out, we have to get our stuff.” I sighed and asked “how?” The Sheriffs over there”, pointing down the road, “I know he hasn’t been o the park” A guy showed up screaming that he was on the city council and he wasn’t going to have vagrants in the park” Widesky exclaimed “Well” I remarked “that’s all well and good, but if he doesn’t have a badge he doesn’t have any authority so tell him to go talk to the sheriff” too late “he stated, “this super awesome lady heard him screaming and went and bought us a room” I looked at the lady driving and she smiled, waved, and hollered “jump in the back” So I jumped in the back” she took us back to the park and hollered “pack your stuff I’ll be back in ten mins to take you to the hotel.”

I packed my stuff and Widesky filled me in on the details. Apparently we were going to be staying at the Snowshoe Lodge where I had already booked the John Wayne room twice and still not gotten to stay in it. Needless to say I wasn’t happy to be giving the guy my business but I couldn’t refuse to stay in the room this awesome lady had paid for so when she came back I climbed in the bed of the truck again.

The purveyor of the Snowshoe Lodge had kindly agreed to let us hikers stay in a bunk bed he had set up in the Ice/ laundry room/ janitors closet and he had only charged the lady 60 dollars for the night. Yea what a guy. I had paid fifty the night before for one of the nicest rooms I’ve ever had the privilege to stay in. As Widesky and the lady walked back towards her truck, the guy turned to me and said I’ve had problems with hikers before don’t you be rounding up all your hiker friends and letting them use the shower and WiFi. I smiled and asked “didn’t you tell me you’ve only owned this place 2 weeks? Besides Their are no other hikers up this far.” He sneered and stomped off with a final word of ” If the other guests ( I think he had two other rooms rented out) want ice out of that room they will get ice!” I didn’t bother to reply, having no intention of hoarding the ice anyway, and went to thank our Good Samaritan for her deed.

After she left we walked down to TommyKnockers for dinner. While there we talked to a bunch of locals ( who couldn’t believe we had been evicted from the park where everybody had been camping for years)

The locals were super awesome though. One of the ladies told us she had a picture of herself with John Wayne from when she was 5. Also the Widow Rogers in the movie was named after her grandma who had befriended the Duke while he was in town. Jason Mamoa, (Aquaman) had also been in town a few years prior filming a Carrhart commercial and many of them had met Johny Depp when he was filming Lone Ranger there. It was a fun evening but soon hiker midnight beckoned and we returned to our closet for the night.

The morning of the 18th I awoke and got dressed excited about the breakfast the website of the Snowshoe Lodge promised. I was to be disappointed however as apparently when the new owner purchased it he had nixed the breakfast part of the Snowshoe Lodge Bed and Breakfast that the website promised. ( apparently the former owners made it homemade every morning)

Oh well. I found a small cafe across the street and got some pancakes. I then returned to my room and packed up my gear. Widesky said he still had some things to do in town so I hiked out alone. Creede is actually a really cool little town and worth a visit. The locals are awesome. Hopefully the Visitors center director will make peace with hikers being in “her’ town As it’s a major resupply point for both the CDT and Colorado trails.

From Creede it was a steep climb up the Canyon. The scenery was beautiful and I was taking my time. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to being back in the snow. The plan was to walk 110 miles to highway 50 and hitch into Salida for my next resupply. The road passed several old mines that were built and dug into the canyon walls. All too soon I hit the snow line. I was forced to put on my snowshoes and keep climbing up the road. Where the road followed the side of the cliff the snow had built up to a sheer slope that I had to cross. I could see where avalanches had collapsed before, decimating trees along the way.

Around 3 Snow was falling fairly hard and though I had only made it 7.5 miles I decided to start looking for a dryish spot to camp since I didn’t want to wind up camping above 11000 feet for the night.

As I was walking I came upon an old mine with some old mine buildings; there was a sign there saying it had been abandoned since the early 2000’s so I decided to see if maybe there was an old shed or something I could camp under. While exploring I found a couple of old shipping containers that had been joined together for use as a locker room and the doors were open. I moved in to get out of the weather. About an hour later Widesky showed up and joined me in my shelter. We stayed there for the night and the morning of the 19th it was time to go up to the 12,300 foot San Luis pass.

The snow makes for slow going and It took two hours to reach the top. Once there we had to make our way across the steep slopes. The wind was punishing pelting is with snow and ice. Widesky lead the way up, we were going to try to make it to the ridge and cross around the saddle to the other side where we could descend. We made it halfway up and weren’t even able to stand the wind was blowing so hard and we were being pushed off the mountain. We crawled back down to find a different route. The only other way was to follow the slope around the side and then climb back up over the ridge on the other side. Finding traction was nearly impossible and we were forced to use our hands and knees to hang onto the side of the mountain. Even with our snowshoes our feet slid with every step. Sometimes we’d lose our footing altogether and slide down the mountain on our bellies until we could arrest our fall.

The wind never let up any exposed skin was soon chapped and frozen. We crawled and slid around the valley until we managed to make it up the ridge on the other side. It had taken us 3 hours to do just over 2 miles. We huddled together there on the ridge trying to block the wind for just a moment, staring at the majestic peaks surrounding us and eying the tree line and our salvation in the valley below.

Everything was soaked from the snow and and Widesky only had a pair of jersey gloves from tractor supply. His hands were turning purple and we had to get down so we shouldered our packs and descended into the valley.

As we got below treeline the world opened up into a crescendo of color. It was a wild peaceful place, a calm reward for our efforts.

We hiked on past the 1000 mile mark on the CDT and made it to the Eddisville trailhead at mile 1006 all the way down at 10300 feet in elevation.

I set up my tent and Widesky decided to sleep in the privy for the night. We built a fire and thawed out before sleeping that sleep of the exhausted.

The Morning of the 20th I awoke to more snow. More Snow!

The ground had been completely clear when I went to bed the night before. I dug out my tent and carried my stuff to the women’s privy ( it was a rare double privy and Widesky was still sleeping in the men’s. As I was carrying my stuff in he poked his head out and disdainfully eyed the blizzard I was wandering around in. I barely heard ” I’m going back to bed” as the door shut behind him. Laughingly, I gathered the rest of my stuff; laid my air mattress on the floor and went back to sleep.

A little before noon I stuck my head out again and the snow had slowed down considerably. I packed up and Widesky heard me moving around and packed up his gear as well. We headed out around 1230 and hiked. Widesky decided he needed to go to town and Highway 114 was about 26 miles ahead.

He took off and I hiked at my slow and steady pace. I saw him at the first two river crossings we had to wade across and then lost him. We descended pretty low that day and that snow quit so I didn’t need my snow shoes There were a couple of steep climbs but not to bad and it was a wonderful day of hiking meadows with distant mountains and an actual trail to follow. I managed 21 miles that afternoon and camped at mile 1027. I figured Widesky was already chilling in town and since I wasn’t planning on going in until hwy 50, 44 miles further than 114 where he was hitching in I thought we had parted ways; such is the way of the long trails.

The 21st I got up to a dusting of snow and started hiking on. I walked the 6ish miles to the road in the falling snow. It was mostly downhill and the snow wasn’t too deep but I knew there had been none the day before and there was already 6 inches on the ground now and it was still coming down. I was wandering if maybe I should go to town and at least check the weather since it was a climb back up to over 11000 feet right after 114. To my surprise when I reached the road Widesky was there, still in his tent at 9 am. “I waited” he stated “let’s go to town.”

I glanced at the falling snow and told him “ok”. The nearest town was Saguache 20 some odd miles away but we knew there was nothing there. Salida however was 45 miles past that and supposedly there was a nice 25 dollar a night hostel there. The 25 bucks included a bunk and a shower which sounded pretty awesome to us, so we stuck out our thumbs.

it wasn’t long before a guy picked us up and gave us a ride all the way down the mountain to Saquache where he turned left and we needed to go straight. We found a good spot on the side of the road and soon got another ride 20 miles up the road closer to Salida. We hung out there for a little while and a truck pulled over and we hopped in. Mike the owner of Amica pizza in Salida gave us a ride the rest of the way into town and dropped us off at the Simple lodge and Hostel. We had made it.

We got checked in and met the others there. There was a cross country skier named Ryan that was doing the trail, an older gentleman named Kevin riding a 3 wheeled bicycle cross country to Yosemite, the current manager Tony, an awesome lady, called Darby that was from Indiana and just decided after retirement to move to Colorado and have an adventure, a Japanese dude named June that comes to Colorado to get high for a month every year and other colorful characters.

The Hostels of the world are sanctuaries for the wayward souls. Like the roadside inns of old they take in the weary travelers. For a moment many adventures cross and tales are told of far off lands, distant cities, paths less traveled, seas sailed, miles traversed, mountains climbed and lives well lived. They are places where the new just venturing out cross trails with us old rouges that that have been out maybe a bit too long.

The Simple Hostel in Salida Colorado is a welcome place for all and I love it there. When we arrived we checked the weather and there was a winter storm warning out in the mountains till Friday. It was Tuesday so we decided to stay till Thursday and then hitchhike back to the trail and camp so we could start hiking early Friday morning. We ate pizza at the Amica pizzaria and relaxed.

Wendsday the 22nd I had breakfast at the Little Red Hen Bakery and then me and Widesky borrowed a couple of bikes from the hostel and explored the town. It’s a super cool place with loads of little shops and we even found a used outdoor gear store where Widesky bought an ice axe. Then we just chilled at the hostel. I made grilled ham andcheese sandwich for dinner and then again for breakfast the following morning on the 23rd.

That morning Widesky and I charged our stuff and walked to Wal-Mart to pick up a few supplies. Then it was time to hitchhike. We walked out to the highway and started walking away from town. While we walked we held out our thumbs and it wasn’t long before we got a bite. A lady picked us up and said she could take us a couple of miles down the road where we needed to turn right and she had to turn left.

We told her that was cool anything helped and she asked us what we were doing. We told her our story and she exclaimed ” hold on a minute, I own a roofing company and I just sent my guys home early because it’s starting to rain, one of them lives in Saguache and I’ll call him and see if he’ll take you there. ” she got on the phone and sure enough the guy agreed to pick us up at the gas station, at the crossroads ahead. So she dropped us off and he picked us up and not only drove us to Saguache but 20 plus miles past it all the way to the trail.

We thanked him and walked a little ways up the trail to mile 1035 and set up camp for the night.

The 24th was a long day over snow . Any sign of the trail was usually buried so it was almost all bushwhacking. No matter how hard I tried to stay on trail it was just impossible. I would locate it and then it would turn and I’d lose it again, so I just stayed as close as I could. I climbed over mountains all day up and down in the snow, making slow progress in my snow shoes through the forests. I passed Sergeant’s Mesa and went over Long Branch Baldy and Middle Baldy. I slipped and slid and postholed and got lost and found. I made it as far as I could and did my best to make it down as low as I could before dark but I was only able to make it to a small saddle in between two mountains still up at 11,166 feet It was getting dark and I found a dry parch under a tree big enough for my tent. There hadn’t been any water since my campsite the night before so I melted enough snow to fill 2 of my water bottles. The temperature was dropping quick with the sun going down and my wet feet felt like ice cubes so I jumped in my sleeping bag without melting enough snow to cook dinner. I ate some snacks and knew I would regret the lack of calories on the morrow but I was tired and cold. Eventually my feet warmed and I nodded off, thinking of the long day ahead.

I awoke at mile 1051 near the Long Branch trail Junction on the 25th and looked up towards my first challenge of the day. An 800 foot climb and then down to water on the other side at 7 tank creek. I packed up pulled on my frozen socks and shoved my sore feet into my frozen boots, it was time to hike.

Oh a beautiful morning, I forced my tired aching body out into the sun and set off into the snow with a vague idea of how the trail swayed through the trees I climbed up and over and down. I hit Widesky’s snowshoe prints and then the ski prints of Ryan who had passed a few days before and followed them for a while. At one point I found bear tracks following the ski tracks another traveler in the Rockies.

I found the creek and leaped across at the crossing before taking a break and drinking my fill of the clear cold water. Then it was time to face the main challenge of the day. I had descended down to 10300 feet to the creek and I had to climb all the way back up to Windy peak at 11,700 feet. A steep 1400 foot climb over 2 miles in the snow. It was a long steep climb that took hours. Without a clear trail I found the way the best I could checking my phone maps to make sure I didn’t stray too far off track. Eventually I summited and crossed the slopes sliding and falling and inching my way along. Down a small saddle and around Headwaters Hill slipping and postholing with every step.

The other side of the hill was a free for all descent in deep snow with an idea of where to cut to the trail below. I slipped and fell and rolled, at one point I had somehow wedged my snowshoes up against a tree, I couldn’t get them loose and I was struck unable to gain my feet and flaying about in the snow. With some less than graceful acrobatics I managed to regain my feet and continue my semi-controlled way down the mountain. Every time I fell I popped back up, not giving my body the chance to decide it was hurt. The only option was to keep on step by step. I was tired, frozen, hungry and more determined than ever to keep on. I knew Widesky had headed for a cabin that was free for anyone to stay at near Marshall pass and mile 1068.5. We had heard there was a wood stove in it and I knew he would have it roaring if I could just get there. On and on I hiked, it was slow and I wasn’t making big miles but progress was all that mattered. Around 7 I staggered out the woods into the warmth. Widesky had a roaring fire and I collapsed in a chair and thawed my aching feet. He looked at me with a haunted face that I was sure mirrored my own “that was rough, I got so lost, climbed the wrong mountain, pretty much fell down it, so much snow.” I muttered back from my spot by the fire “yea rough, did 17 miles I think took all day, fell down a lot, gotta thaw my feet.”

The cabin was full of somebody’s stuff. They had pretty much trashed the place and left their crap everywhere but it was a public cabin and nobody was there so we stayed. There was a small shelf of stuff people had left for anybody to take and there was some cans of chicken and dumpling soup on it so I popped the tops of two warmed them a bit on the wood stove and inhaled them both. There was stuff all over the cots so I swept a place on the floor aired up my mattress and collapsed enjoying being warm. Widesky pushed all the stuff on one of the cots over to one side and climbed in.

The 26th came all too soon, and marked 2 months since I took my first steps on the CDT way back at the Mexican border. It was around 11 miles to highway 50 at Monarch pass and the Monarch Crest store. I had originally planned to pick up my box and continue on without going back into town but I was exhausted and sore and walking all day in wet boots and snowshoes was tearing up my feet so I was definitely thinking about returning to the hostel in Salida to rest and heal up for a day. But first we had to get there and it was going to be tough. We left the cabin and were quickly separated because of our different paces. The trail was a lost cause and we were simply making our way through the woods in the general direction we wished to go. At one point we came out on a steep slope that was clear of trees and I saw Widesky several hundred feet above me crossing. I checked the map and it showed I was too low, he was too high and the trail was supposedly somewhere in between. It was just unbroken feet deep snow. There was a three sided shelter a few miles ahead and We reunited there placing our packs on the roof as the snow was all the way up to the eaves at least 8 to 10 feet deep. Someone had actually tunneled there way in before us and we crawled in to the open space and took a break.

From there we had to climb over a mountain and follow the ridges for a while. We knew this was going to be hairy so we decided to stick together as we faced the crest of the Rockies at nearly 12000 feet up. We started our climb and saw a huge unstable snow cornice that lipped the ridge ahead. There was no way we would be able to get over it so we turned left and crawled. Walked, and slid our way along the slope. We needed to get over to the other side tried to climb again. We carefully sank our snowshoes into the treacherous snow sliding with every step. We clawed with our hands and banged our knees through ice grasping for any purchase clawing our way up the mountain. I got 30ish feet from the top and the snow collapsed with every movement, I couldn’t gain any purchase to move up and was laying spreadeagled on the snow with hands, feet, knees, and ice axe stuck in the snow to stop myself from sliding down. I looked back down at Widesky slightly below and 20 feet to my left “don’t come this way, the snows rotten, I’m stuck” I yelled over the wind. He yelled back “I can’t get any higher and there’s another cornice above me, have to go down and find a different way” Without another option I nodded and we both looked behind us at the sheer slope. Crap this wasn’t going to be easy.

On our hands and knees we crawled and slid digging our ice axes in to arrest our descent, backwards we inched down the mountain to a slightly less treacherous slope where we tentatively stood and perilously began to make our way around to the other side of the peak hoping we could find a way to pick ups the trail there. After some struggle we made it around and were actually able to climb to the top and I mean the top! The crest of the Rockies. We stood on the ridge and gasped in awe at the ocean of mountains falling away on every side. As the brisk wind tried to blow us away and burned our chapped skin we stood awestruck by nature’s majesty. Standing there with all the miles behind us, the aches in our bodies, our wet frozen feet, the thought of all the miles yet to go, all this and more makes the experience, you can’t capture it in a photo you actually have to stand there and let it all soak in.

We walked the ridge for a while with a storm building behind us and then it was time to find a way down with more precarious slopes and and a dozen or so slips and falls we descended towards the road. The last mile and a half it started to snow as we made our way slowly around the side of a hill to the final descent to the store.

We reached Monarch Pass at mile 1078.8 and got some snacks. I picked up my resupply box and we walked down the highway and found a dirt road that had only been plowed about a hundred feet in and then was just a wall of snow. We camped there on the dirt and on the 27th got up early and hitched a ride back into Salida to the Simple Lodge Hostel. We just relaxed and hung out and I think we’ll stay the 28th as well to rest and heal up; hoping maybe the snow will melt some before we face the 13 and 14000 foot peaks ahead.