Woke at 7 am to go up to Pajarito Mountain Ski Area with spouse, where we would meet with my friend. Spouse took the lift up with her. She's old enough that they knew to stop the Aspen Lift at the top so she could safely disembark. They walked over to look at the snow-making retention pond - butt ugly with a chain link fence around it.
Meantime, I hoofed up to the back of the mountain via the Zero Road East and then back down to the Aspen Lift picnic deck where they were waiting for me (but not for long).
It rained some - my golf umbrella was wonderful as usual. Friend and I walked and talked together on the way down. Husband walked well ahead of us most of the time as he felt he couldn't walk downhill as slowly as we were.
Friend and I had hoped to scope out from "on high" the mysterious triangle of land between Cañada Bonita and Quemazon canyons that we hope to hike to some day. It's below and north of Pajarito Mountain and on a clear day, we'd have enjoyed studying the lay of the land with our binoculars but the overcast skies didn't permit that. As my friend said back at the parking lot, it was a walk filled with "atmosphere" (probably meaning in the literal sense, walking through clouds, as well as figuratively!) Afterward, my friend went over to FR181/American Springs Road to check on some invasive musk thistle growing alongside the road.