Tue, 14May - San Pedro Peaks Wilderness

Left Cuba after an early lunch in 96 degree sunny weather.  At the Los Pinos trailhead I caught up with Bob and we hiked together up into the San Pedro Peaks Wilderness.  It was nice to be climbing up following a nice stream for a change.  First real surface water we have hiked by and it was refreshing in the sun and heat.  But things change fast in the mountains.  

Around 9000 feet I turned a corner and it grew overcast and cold.  Then we started seeing large patches of snow. The sky darkened and it started raining, then hail, then clumps of large snow fell.  Stopped to put on rain gear and it really started to rain.  The trail flooded; then we came to some large open alpine meadows.  At least they should have been, today they were marshy bogs with little streams runny everywhere.  Mostly a sea of 2-3 inch water. By now our feet are soaked.  

Then came deeper snow and wet post-holing.  We stopped early as we crested the peak because there were a few clear grass patches without snow and around the corner we would be on the north facing side with lots of deeper snow.  Probably the last spot if we didn't want to  camp on the snow and keep post holing I thought.  Maybe in the morning the snow will have consolidated some.  The trail is sure getting interesting.