Out of Leadville

We stayed at the Leadville Hostel last night before starting the hike today. It was really great and there were several other hikers there, so we sat around and swapped trail stories for awhile before going to bed. 

Packed up early and we were going to hitch the ten miles out to the trailhead , but Tif struck up a conversation and before we knew it, we had a ride out from Michael. A retired pharmacist who has been coming to Leadville every summer for about 21 years.

The weather started out a little chilly and drizzly.  Came to a really pretty little stream

We found a great rock overlook for lunch and just in time, the sun came out and warmed us up. 

No major climbs today, but I was definitely feeling the altitude! 

The skies started getting dark again and thundering, so we cut it short a little and threw up our tents before the rain started. Got everything inside before it started. It was a really nice, steady, gentle rain for the next few hours. Perfect for reading and napping. It has been a pretty stressful, emotional six weeks, and it was really nice to just do nothing . 

Had a good dinner once the rain stopped, hung out food and back in my nice, warm, dry tent.