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It's like we never left. It's still hotter than hot at Knox, the pool party is still on and the campers are still going swimming and hiking, and even doing arts and crafts. But we did leave. We left for a full week of amazing activities and weather. We spent 40 hours in a white van listening to crazy cool music. We drank fresh stream water, went sledding, and even climbed a giant mountain. We sat around the hot flames of our camp fire each night and shared old Knox stories, riddles, and old folk tales from Mexico. Relaxing in our tent that had been warmed by the sun, I don't think I could have been any more happy.
-Natalie
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I signed up for LID backpacking for something EXTREME and out of the ordinary. I also went to be with my friends whom I've known forever. Our entire group consisted of Doug, Jay, Megan, Nick, Natalie, Nicholle, Katherine, Rueben, and me (Zach).
We began the trip with a long steady drive through Texas, New Mexico, and finally to Colorado at the base of the San Juan Mountains. On the way we made a few stops including one at Cadillac Ranch, where we did our own JKR tagging.
The first night we camped out in Palo Duro Canyon. On the second day we continued our trek, and we even stopped at WALMART! Nick and I knew that there would be snow in the mountains, therefore we knew we needed a sled. We proceeded to buy ourselves a nice sized toilet seat to strap to our backs on the hike. That night we camped in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. It was only a few miles from the mountain trail we would be taking. Each night we would have LID time where we discussed various points about being a leader. The next day we packed up our backpacks and got in the van for our short drive to the trail. For a while we walked, working in the new backpacks...they seemed so heavy, and finally we found a nice spot for lunch. We left our packs and hiked a little further up the trail where a giant waterfall was pouring to the ground. All of us could already tell that this place was going to be gorgeous, even by the little we had really seen. So we took a few pictures, and played in some of the snow, I even got a nice snowball thrown at me. It hit me in the head. Thanks Natalie. We kept on hiking up the trail for the remainder of the day and we stopped in a small forested area for the night. We ate dinner, filtered water, and the we went on the explore our surroundings. Ahead of our campsite we found an amazing snow slide. We grabbed our toilet seat and made a slide from the steep top. It wasn't the best slide of the trip, but it was still INSANE. That night we slept pretty well. At dawn we quickly ate and packed up our tents to continue the hike. We were getting pretty high up in the mountains, and now I even needed to use my inhaler to help me breathe. At midday we stopped in another spectacular meadow for lunch. When the sun was visible the area was just perfect, but half the time we were covered by a cold raincloud! Nevertheless we were surrounded by lots of green grass, flowers, and streams that flowed through the area. When we left a while later, we had a pretty difficult uphill climb to our last destination campsite on the mountain. We set up our tents on the side of a very large meadow. We had our LID time with snack and then hiked without our packs to the other side of the mountain for some sledding. Lots of snow covered that area because the sun hit that side of the mountain the least. We made a few paths and each of us had a blast sledding them. They were steep and partially wet. On video, I even flew into the mud. EXTREME! Later, we headed back to the campsite for dinner and to sit around the campfire. We told stories and had a good time talking that night. The next day we woke up, and ate some oatmeal. It was 28 degrees when we awoke. We got ready for our steep hike up to the peak of the San Juan mountain next to us. After about two hours of climbing we all made it. Doug said that we were "relatively awesome" for accomplishing the climb, and we would be full on awesome if we made it back down. 12,500 feet in the air gives way for some beautiful sight seeing. 
It was amazing. You could see Pagosa Springs and probably hundreds of miles farther. You could see the whole of our nature trail and many mountain lakes around the area. these lakes were our next destination. After an hour of backtracking down the mountain and an hour of rest, we were good to go. We walked a 1/4 mile to the Four Mile Lake. It was huge. We ate our granola snack and Jay, Nick, and I decided that we could jump in. Keep in mind that snow surrounds the lake, and it was fifty degrees outside. So, yeah, it was really cold.
After three days of no showering though, it was great. Super refreshing. The three of us dried ourselves and then the whole of us walked back to camp. That night we slept great. We were exhausted. In the morning however, it began to rain. We quickly gathered our things and were ready to go. This was our last day and it was time to hike back down the mountain. It was a ton easier than climbing up, but it was also pouring rain. Everything was soaked. When we finally made it back to the van I think we were pretty much ready to pass out. (At least I was). Crawling into the van, we got on going back to Pagosa Springs. That day would turn out to be a fantastic one. We showered and washed clothes, and even got SUBWAY! Nick and I split footlong subs. I had a sweet onion chicken teriyaki, and Nick got himself a ham and cheese. How delicious. That night we looked around town and bought dinner at another great restaurant. We went to the movies too! HA. Terminator Salvation is such an action-packed joke. Still, the town was great. There was even a hot springs in the middle of it.-Zach
