"Keep close to Nature's heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."

– John Muir

When we learned we were moving back to the mountain west I was determined to spend as much time up IN them as possible.  We have always been hikers but our ranch in Colorado was 45min from the nearest trailhead. There were also farm animals to tend to twice daily.  Things stacked up. It didn't happen nearly as often as we would have liked.  That was one priority we had this time around – to keep close, to break away early and often, to climb mountains. 

We started with Mt. Ogden since the western face trailhead is just a few minutes from our front door. It had been days since the last snow but the weather had already warmed to the high 60's.  Short sleeves and sunglasses.  

The peak is 9000ft so there was still a fair amount of snow as we neared the top.  I made the mistake of taking the big girl camera along.  It survived the climb but it definitely impeded my progress as the trail got icy.  Next time – iPhone. 

The views were incredible as expected. 

I can't tell you how friendly everyone we passed on the trail was.  Everybody said hello, talked to the dogs, asked about the conditions ahead or offered input on same if they were coming the other way. So by the time we were stopped for lunch and I was snapping this picture it didn't surprise us a bit when a couple passed and insisted I get in the frame too.  I paused for a half second and said heck yeah because remember why?  Because it's important that mom gets in the picture.