We were up with the sun the next morning, the second day of our trip. A light frost was on the ground. Once the sun shone on our camp, we all warmed up rapidly.
The horses grazed in a green meadow beside a small stream. Mischief and Boss are near the center, and Coco is off to the right. (If you enlarge, you can see our blue tent in the distance among the spruce trees.)
We left our camp intact when we saddled up and rode out, planning to return that evening to spend another night. We were able to ride faster without carrying all of our gear. Here's a scene as we broke out of the trees and headed up a meadow complex:
We rode about 16 miles round trip that day, all the way across Painter Basin and up to the highest part of Gilbert Basin. Here are Steve and Eric approaching the high end of Gilbert Basin:
You can see Daisy riding just behind Boss, her face in the swish of his tail. She often gets in this position. She likes being close to Boss, and borrowing a tail is convenient to keep the flies off one's face. Almost there!
At our destination (11,600 feet, or about 3500 meters), we took a short break and admired the scene:
Such grandeur was well worth the long ride, don't you think?
