Colorado Springs - Solo Journey Resumed

One of the last hikes my friend and I did together was to Mt. Culter via the Columbine trail in the middle of the week. I have rarely hiked during a work week, but it was something different to do, so together with a Meetup group my friend and I ascended 1,100 ft to get spectacular views on top of Mount Cutler. On the way there we saw a large bear which made the hike even more special. Some members of the group were a bit too friendly with the bear. Sadly, some people don't realize that it is a wild animal with unpredictable behavior and by approaching it closely you risk to get the bear in trouble. Luckily, all went without an incident this time.

That little stream of water you see is St. Mary's falls that we visited earlier

I changed my mind about hiking in the middle of the week; I'd like to do it more often.

On the weekend, I decided to go to Red Rock Canyon and hike Sand Canyon Mesa, Greenlee, Red Rock Canyon Trail. While the day was overcast, my friend went out with a Meetup group, so I didn't want to stay home and went hiking solo. With a cooler day comes less crowd which I enjoyed quite a bit on an early Saturday morning when I was pretty much by myself for the first hour and a half.

Stream from the recent rain

I got home after the hike and made lunch. My roommate arrived from her meetup and we had a brief exchange where I mentioned to her that her pot has been in the sink for the past 3 days and that I had to finally wash it myself. She was genuinely surprised, and after attempting to avoid conflict and any further conversation, she said she was leaving the following day.

I went to the symphony by myself...

It was wonderful, almost a breath of fresh air.

My seat was very close to the stage

The following morning my friend was gone with an apology note left on the coffee table. There was so much more to it, but who wants to read it here. I can only say that I was relieved to be living without her. It sadly ended the friendship chapter, but it brought a lot of lessons learned, so time was not wasted. And so my solo journey was resumed.