A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about being up high up at Stony Pass .

Here's something I didn't show you, because I can't get the picture big enough to make out the item of interest -


             

What you see is a girl on a road, and if you look close, you'll see something orange in her hand.

What you do not see is that she's at Stony Pass - at 12,588 ft elevation - and the only thing in her possession is a small Zip-Loc sandwich bag of Cheez-Its.

That's right - we were in the middle of the San Juan Mountains, way up in the air, far far away from any bit of civilization, and this woman was walking - no indication of where she came from, no vehicle for her to get out of, no camp for her to be staying - and the only thing she had in her battle of Girl Vs. Wild was a small bag of Cheez-Its.

This stunned me. I'm aware that Cheez-Its is a food group, but it's not ALL of the food groups - nor do Cheez-Its comprise clothing or shelter. They are not all that one needs to sustain life, and certainly not at 12,000 feet.

She walked over the pass and disappeared, and Ethel and I investigated the area - looking for the headwaters of the Rio Grande, trying to identify the wildflowers, trying to breathe - and then, after a while, she came walking back over the pass; this time, she still had her Cheez-Its, but she also had a full-grown MOuntain Man, complete with huge backpack, trekking poles and dreadlocks.

Obviously she did have all she needed. Walk around with a bag of Cheez-Its, and somebody will show up with everything else.

Since I'm trying to do my best to prepare for the Imogene Pass Run, I didn't bring any Cheez-Its to Colorado with me, as I'm not eating red meat or white flour until after the race. However, shortly after we got here, Ethel found this -

                                                                  

That's right - healthy Cheez-Its. Cheez-Its that you can eat with a warm, fuzzy sense of being green and wearing natural fibers and smelling like patchouli. The kind of Cheez-Its that they probably eat at Berkeley.

I'm waiting for them to come out with Free Range Cheez-Its.