Weather: Beautiful, clear sunny day which made for great views and pictures. To offset the impacts of clear sun coming down there was a frequent nice cool breeze throughout the hike.

X-Factor:
1. Hiking up via Manker Flats- I really enjoyed the challenge hiking up this way, especially the last 1.5 /2 hrs right before the summit. Very steep and technical. Definitely a good quad and cardio workout. Definitely felt the calves working out too. In the last 60 mins or so I noticed the air thining as my breaths were shorter.
2. Devils Backbone – Lived up to the hype! Thoroughly enjoyed the approach, hiking through it, the 360 deg views. And the 30 mins or so right before getting to devil's backbone… intense! There was a 80 meter stretch of mountain to the immediate left and a sheet drop off to the right… with just a 12 in or so path way. It was the only time of the hike where I found myself definitely leaning /walking to the left HAHA. I did NOT look to the right as much as I wanted to see but I couldn't afford to make a mistake.
3. Ski Lodge- I was happy to just use it as a restroom stop. But after seeing at least a dozen folks walking around with a pink lemonade in hand I said, heck, I can make time for this. OMG that lemonade was SO Satisfying and refreshing. We ended up sharing an order of potato wedges… among 4 hungry hikers we just barely finished off the wedges. Thank goodness the lemonade/ wedges combo didn't upset my stomach.

Timeline:
815 AM Start hike
1215 AM Arrived to Summit (could have arrived in ~3/3.5 hrs; Vivian turned back and a small group waited for her)
*45 mins to eat/rest/pics
115 PM Start descent
330 PM @ Ski Lodge
*45 min break
415 PM Depart Ski Lodge
530 PM @ Trail End