I believe the last time I wrote it hadn't rained in weeks & I was nervous about the wildfires...well since then the weather has certainly changed! From the time we left Lake City nearly two weeks ago until two days ago there has been rain, hail, thunder & or lightning every day. I don't mind a little rain, we definitely need it, but it's the abundance of lightning and black clouds rolling over head as we hike that make me nervous. I feel like I've become a pro at telling what will fall from oncoming clouds just by their shape, size, color and way they're traveling. It has become a game as we're climbing uphill if we know we will be above tree line soon, to try and predict what the dark clouds above are going to do. If we've recently heard thunder or dark clouds are quickly moving our way, we stop and wait so we will hopefully avoid lightning. But this doesn't always work and we aren't always right. The most frightening day for boh of us was our third day out of Salida last week. After the second storm of the day we were starting a big climb over 12,000 feet and the sky was clear as we started up. By the time we got to tree line there were storm clouds to our west and it was raining hard, but it was all far away. So we decided to go ahead, we had less than half an hour to the pass then it was downhill for a while. Half way up the clouds shifted our way and we started to hear thunder. I kicked it into a new gear and headed for the top as fast as I could. I got over the pass but Brazil Nut was still a little way behind me. I descended a little so I wasn't completely exposed and waited for her to come over the top above me. No sooner did she come into view then here was a huge boom of thunder over head.... At this point I just wanted to be far below beneath the trees but we had at least a mile of steep exposed and now slippery rock to descend since it had started to rain. We both hiked as fast as we could given the terrain, but the rain had turned to hail amd we were now dodging lightning bolts, so we could only go so fast....anyway, we made it down safely, but this has been the course of the last week and it's both mentally and physically exhausting. But a phrase that is well known among CDT hikers is "Embrace the brutality" coined by a former hiker of the trail. This trail is different than others in part due to the extremes we encounter-extreme weather, terrain, beauty, challenges, solitude... The list goes on. So, as we're hiking along and we're getting pelted by hail or dodging lightnig bolts, it usually ends with us yelling "embrace the brutality!" to one another. So it's back to the trail soon and there are clear blue skies that I hope will stay for at least a few days. We will be in Grand Lake next which borders on Rockie Moumtain National Park and if the weather is nice we're planning to do an optional 27 mile loop through the park when we get there. After that there is only one trail town left in Colorado, them it's on to Wyoming! That's it for now, happy hiking! -Jetpack