It's over!

Hiked out of Sunrise for good today. Everything's been packed down or boarded up and it's all over for another year. I had to go over to the stables to pick up my things (that the mules had graciously packed down for me) and while there our last pack train returned. In my three years working in the high country, I'd never seen a pack train come back to the stables and unload. Turns out, the first thing the mules do after they've been unloaded, de-saddled, and set loose, is immediately drop to the ground and roll around in the dirt. As you can see, it's adorable! It must be such a relief for them, to get off the loads and ropes and the trail, and just scratch their backs and forget their cares. Yay for happy mules. Yay for the next chapter.