Sat Jun 2, 2018 @ 12:13

Friends, Carson National Forest is not messing around. We climbed from the desert up to Alpine meadows in the space of a single day, and ever since then it has been all Alpine vistas and rolling mountains. We have been up above 8500ft basically since we climbed up out of Ghost Ranch and it is just like we have walked into a whole other world.

Finally we have mountains to climb! Water! Shady trees! Water! Tall trees! Water!

It has been tough don't get me wrong. There have been some climbs that were pretty hard work, and the altitude really knocked me around the first two days we were out here. Last night (the third) we slept at 10000ft. Tonight will probably be 10500ft or so. Which will probably feel like nothing once we hit the San Juan Mountains but right now feels pretty nuts. It's cold up here too. We have had a series of nights at freezing, even though we have been carefully choosing protected campsites.

In between all that, though, there are views that make you feel like you just rolled right on into a fairytale forest.