Almost there. Finally.
On a steep section of trail in the southern portion of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the preteen and teenage girls of Girls enCourage, a program of Girls Inc. of Santa Fe, picked their way down a rocky slope toward Serpent Lake, which shone like a dropped sapphire in the center of the meadow.
Around the meadow coiled a ridge leading to 12,835-foot Jicarita Peak. Beyond the ridge stretched New Mexico’s Pecos Wilderness. And beyond the wilderness lay the everyday world. Both places hold challenges for girls.