My roommate Mark and his friends lined up some permits for backpacking in the Indian peaks on the Independence day weekend. His route took us to two nice lakes and a cool abandoned mine, with a layover day near to the Arapaho peaks. Connecting North and South Arapaho is a fun ridge scramble over 13,000 feet.

Winston and Bryce (ever the hungry ones, for trail mix and adventure, respectively) joined Christine and I for the traverse, but we split up at the summit. Bryce and Winston braved a steep loose rock gully straight down to the campsite, while Christine and I reversed the route and took the long way around, only to find ourselves crossing the Continental Divide in a thunderstorm.

Everybody else made the summit of South Arapaho that day (even the dog). After a third fun-filled night we hiked back out to Boulder.