Got up at 4:00am to go pick up Jon and drive to the Santa Fe ski hill in time for a 6:00am sunrise.

Hiking through aspens is really great. And the trail we were on (Windsor) ran along the side of a very steep mountain, so that there was a 45 degree grade on either side. It was disorienting. The first 4.5 miles of the trail were very easy. We crossed a few streams and hiked along a genearlly flat trail.

After the meadow in Peurto Nambe, however, we were faced with miles of switchbacks and an ever-increasing slope to contend with. The total slog of a climb was offset by the frequent wildlife. Deer, rabbits, songbirds, some big white-headed birds that we had never seen anything simiar to, chipmunks, and the odd lizard. After about three hours, we reached the saddle which marks the beginning of the one-mile summit push of Santa Fe Baldy peak.

We stopped here for lunch, and only then did other hikers catch up to us. The first guy was a weird old man wearing blue slacks and a button-up windbreaker. For some reason we referred to him as "home-slice" for the rest of the trip. As we started up the impossibly steep ridge to the peak, we were passed by a number of trailrunners.

They were running up to the peak. Yes, running.

We were making our way up in little 20m increments, separated by long periods of rest. They ran up to the top and back. I don't understand these people. And they had little tiny squirt bottles of water.

But anyway, 2.5 hours after leaving the saddle, we made it to the peak. I felt dizzy and rather nauseous. But once we got over the last bit of steep ridge and onto the rather flat summit, I felt great. It was a serious accomplishment.

We spent an hour and a half up there just laying around, throwing snow, looking at Lake Katherine 2000' below, and bothering the marmots.

The marmots were really cute. And they weren't very afraid of us if we weren't moving. They look sort of like beavers with different tails. And they make a really obnoxious loud chirping sound like some enormous bird. And they're super lazy.

I'd never seen one before. But I'm a big fan of marmots now.

When we were in the car arriving at the ski hill, Jon estimated our arrival time at the summit within one minute. Weird things are afoot.

Anyway, we had lunch on the peak, looked at the lake a little more, and I fell down a snow slope. That's about it. Going down the steep slope was hard on the toes and knees and thighs, but was infinitely faster than ascending. It only took us three hours to get back to the car. By the end my feet were really torn up and I was definitely running on fumes. 15 miles and thousands of feet vertical rise is about my limit, I think.

The last guy we saw on the trail looked kinda like Guy Spivey - all white hair, formally dressed, with a bad pink & blue plaid shirt and white slacks. He asked us where we had been and when we told him, he asked us if we had seen any good mushrooms up there. (?) Then he said, "That's a good thing that you did today." as if we had done some good deed for humanity. "Good for your heart." Oh, ok, so he's a health guy. I can respect that. "Spiritually healthy."

Oh, he's from Santa Fe.