I slept in a bit this morning. Thunderstorms and heavy rain are on tap for today and tomorrow, so I’ve decided to take a few short days and wait for the weather to pass before jumping up on the Divide. 13,000 is not somewhere I want to be in a Colorado thunderstorm.

I was on some beautiful backcountry roads, and enjoyed a misty and partially rainy morning as I watched birds, the ever present water (I’m tracing the orgins of the Rio Grande River on this hike!) and the sky that just could not make up its mind about what it wanted to do today.

One car out of all the cars that passed me today stopped to find out what I was doing, I would have thought it would have been more…I’m carrying skis!

I pitched my tarp for an early lunch and ended up taking a nice long one, complete with nap.

The afternoon passed quickly as I walked along Rio Grande Reservoir and started getting closer to the divide. Tomorrow I would hike up and try to camp as close to tree-line as I can, and then the next day I’m up and skiing! The weather is supposed to calm down by then, and I’m looking forward to the views.

It’s an early night by Lost Creek, and the rain stopped for a bit too.