He learnt disappointment.

Day EightyThree, September 8, 25 Miles
At Mile 1675, Poptart 606/1000
Didn't get the early start I wanted, but neither did the other three so I caught them after an hour, still packing up. Past the trail up to Mt Massive, another day perhaps. By the time we got to the Mt Elbert trailhead clouds were building and a slight time pressure on this section made the decision to not undertake the 4000ft climb (yeah, ten whole GPU's) very easy. A slight shame, Elbert being the highest of the Colorado 14ers and obviously the high point of the divide. It's forgotten as soon as I walk past though, and focus on Poptart number 600. Down to Twin Lakes for lunch, nothing like we expected and everything was closed excepting the unfriendly store. Which only sold things we had in our food bags anyway (seems some of the things for sale actually came from other hikers food bags...). Happy to leave, with Hawkeye as close to angry as I've ever witnessed, we headed towards Hope Pass. We'd been following the route of the Leadville 100 for a few miles and would all the way to its turn-around in the semi-ghost town of Winfield. Started to rain just as we began the 3400ft climb up the pass that I will one day attempt to run (sans 20lb pack) and didn't stop for a couple of hours. A long, beast of a climb that seemed neverending until I got well above treeline and began enjoying it and the rain. At that point it could have been neverending and I wouldn't have cared. The rain eased and the skies began to clear as we crested, the sun shining off the wet rocks and the fiery yellow Aspen scattered across the mountains, yeah it was good. Down to the 'dank emergency shelter' that was dank in neither sense of the word for a break, then continued down the knee thrashing descent to road. Winfield was cool and we found a nice campsite under some trees. Splendid.

I finished the PCT a year ago...
Oh.