“Through the woods we ran . . ./ And as I looked around, I began to notice / That we were nothing like the rest” -Of Monsters and Men
We woke up this morning in a beautiful mountain valley. Last night after we had finished writing our posts a deer came up next to one of the tents. It loudly announced itself, but then got a little perturbed when we had the gall to look at it. We woke up this morning to the singing of birds. Together those two events made for pretty good bookends to the night.
We packed up camp and began the hike back down to Fred. While we didn’t have any more animal sightings we did enjoy the beauty of the flowers, waterfalls, and mountains around us. Again, it was a more difficult hike for me, but I didn’t really think too much of it since I knew I was exhausted from yesterday.
We made it back to the trailhead a bit before noon and found a spot in Aspen for well-deserved burgers and beers. While there we decided that we’d all like a shower and comfortable place to sleep tonight so Molly and I took turns driving and napping as we made our way to Frisco. After checking in we reorganized Fred and our packs, spread out the tents to dry from last night, did laundry, and other road trip chores.
When I took a few minutes to lay down I realized that I was freezing. Then when I went to change laundry realized I was actually burning up and it dawned on me that I may have a fever. Sadly, my suspicions were confirmed when Molly ran out to get dinner and returned with a thermometer. Shit. What a crappy time to get a bug.
We had been planning on hiking Mt. Elbert tomorrow, but the girls decided to try a different hike without me. It will be a super fun and challenging one for them, but I won’t say any more so I don’t steal their thunder. Fingers crossed that my bug passes quickly.