It rained for the first 9 days. If it weren’t for the Jane and Bill tarp I would have been miserable. As it was it was perfect. 

Really wonderful. I could write, read, repack, do anything in the rain. Plus, the big plus was the water collection that allowed me to collect water for hair washing. 

The rain water drools down the pvc pipe into the container. Ended up with two gallons of free water. Washed my hair with only 3 cups of water. So I made coffee and soup with the remaining.  
I camped in a pine forest at 7,800′. The ground was soft with 40 years of pine straw, vibrant with wildflowers and mushrooms and birds. After the 9 days of rain mushrooms popped up all at once. I couldn’t hear them, but smelled them.

Then I tried out the little Nikon CoolPix point and shoot camera to see if I could donate my big Canon with all those lenses. Oh what fun. Here is one of the pictures I took, trying out the camera. Good enough for this trip. The local Methodist Thrift Store in Cortez will love the big camera.

Fourteen days of heavenly trail hiking, 14 days of happy dancing, 14 days of perfect camping out. Never saw another person until the last day. Happy dance every day. At least 2 hours of hiking, exploring, looking every day.
This is the life!