Mt. Wire solo: I parked at the zoo and ran to the trailhead. It was really warm and I was thinking I could have gotten away with shorts, so I pulled up my long sleeves and took off my gloves. It was muddy and sloppy right from the start and I tried my best to stay on the patches of snow. Just before I reached the ridge I saw a woman coming down with 6 dogs (none of them on a leash). As they got closer one of them made a beeline for my packaged goods where it commenced a sniff-fest. I felt kind of dirty and cheap after such a quick encounter, but I'm used to that on the trail, so not a huge deal. By the way, how many dogs to you have to own before you can get on Animal Hoarders? She was the only person I saw the rest of the way. The trail was still pretty muddy and slippery and I just got into a comfortable pace and pushed it on up. The higher I went the more the wind blew, then the sun ducked behind some clouds and it got cold. At the second saddle I decided I was taking it too easy, so I ran hard the rest of the way to the towers and on up to the summit. It has been a while since I pushed it that hard on the final stretch. I didn't stay long at all. The run down was slower than normal because of the snow. I just took it easy on the steeper slick sections and then once I was down to the first saddle I picked it up and ran it in.
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