Had THE BEST WEEKEND down south.
Fri night: left after work, decided to do the hike on Sunday and stay in Salida and be lazy on Saturday. Slept cozily at the Woodland Motel.
Sat: slept in, breakfast at the Patio Pancake Place, visited Great Sand Dunes National Park (AMAZING), soaked in some semi-gnar mineral springs pools and bailed on camping in the sage brush with the snakes, camped instead at the South Crestone trailhead, experienced INTENSE lightning storm in the middle of the night.
Sun: got up at 3:40, left car at 4:15, hiked up in the dark to Willow Lake, began climb up Challenger (a 14er) at 7 AM, topped out on Challenger at 9 AM, traversed over to Kit Carson (another 14er) via Kit Carson Avenue, topped out on Kit Carson at 10 AM, reversed the route back to Challenger and re-topped out just before 11 AM, slid/scrambled/pieced our way back down to Willow Lake and then booked it back to the car, making it back at 2:30, then driving home in time to do some much needed grocery shopping while getting in a FaceTime reunion with Dill, Ursy, and Kimmy.
WOW! Packed weekend. Lucky humans, we are.
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
