Up is hard

There's no strategy for hiking. You just put left before right along a path. It's mindless, cathartic, and healthy, and usually takes you somewhere good. But as was noted on our first mountain-lake trip of the year on Sunday, "up is hard".

We did about 12 miles round trip with about 1,500 feet in elevation gain, which I believe is my biggest distance-day ever, with or without elevation gains. The trip was part of a years-long high-country fly-fishing project just getting underway, which will require many more uphills.

One "up" down, and I'm feeling empowered...