Grand Lake, CO to Silverthorne, CO

We left Grand Lake reluctantly, due to the very chilly weather. We had actually took a few zeros in town to wait out some brutal snow storms, and purchase some warmer gear. We also met a fellow thru hiker in town named Jeff. The beginning of the section brought sun, but we were soon to have snow. We hiked in the Indian Peaks Wilderness during the first section and camped illegally the first night. The next day we hiked in snow, and crossed frozen beaver ponds where giant trout lurked beneath the ice. The weather arrived quickly. We were greeted with the ominous icy winds from the west. In the worsening weather we climbed to 12000+ feet as it was getting dark. The weather stayed bad for the remainder of the section. We could only hope that the rest of CO was not getting as much snow as we were. Unfortunately, the rest of the state was getting more snow.