Saturday Renee was giving Vanessa a baby shower, so that was my cue to pack up the dogs and head to the hills. After just one month after getting over my fourth bout of meningitis and the dogs first outing of the season, I picked a weenie hike to do. We went up to Cirque Meadows, which is an easy hike at lower elevation and not too much elevation gain.

When we reached the trailhead at 9:30AM it was a balmy 28 degrees and blowing about 40 miles an hour. Looking up at Comanche and Stormy Peaks, they were completely socked in. The dogs were so excited to get out they could hardly contain themselves.

We were the only ones on the trail, which I guess didn’t surprise me since the weather was so bad. We just took our time making our way up the trail. It was their first time out and I didn’t know how I would be after doing absolutely nothing for the last month and still having some hangover symptoms from the meningitis.

After a couple of miles and about an hour we reached the stream. I knew the weather was going to get worse at that point and the snow was going to get much deeper. We stopped here for a few minutes for a break and to strap on the snow shoes. I was feeling pretty good so far although had a couple of light headed spells, but the lungs were doing really good.

As we passed the Mummy Pass trail head, there was still four feet of snow and the weather was starting to get rough. Even in the trees it was blowing hard. I couldn’t tell if it was snowing or blowing snow. When we reached Cirque Meadows you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face and it was hard to even stand up. We made an immediate U-Turn and started heading back down.

Once we got back down to the stream crossing the weather got a bit better, although it was still socked in where we came from, the rest of the way back down was sunny yet still windy. The dogs were pretty pooped when we reached the car, but they had a really good time. They got a good 8 miles in for their first time out and did really well - and I didn't break them! Renee was pleased about that!

I was pleased that I did as well as I did other than a couple of light headed spells and the start of a couple of headaches that never really materialized. But glad that I didn't decide to go up on Longs peak! Hopefully most of the ill effects of the meningitis are behind me now and I’ll be able to salvage alpine season, at least until I have arm surgery later in the summer.