There is a popular hiking trail near my home, called the M trail. Which should be explained I guess.... Schools and universities in Montana will put their school's initials up on a hill or mountain. anyway, there are a couple of trails that go to the M in Bozeman. The normal route (green) is about 1.2 miles, and gains 800 feet in elevation. There is an extreme route (pink) that's just 3/4 mile, but it very steep, poorly maintained, and covered in loose gravel. Only insane people go the short route.

Last summer, I hiked the M almost every single day. Over the winter I obviously couldn't do this because of the snow and all. Today, we finally decided that it was warm enough that we should try. We didn't even make it to the major switchback on the left part of this photo....