Nourishment had given him a renewed vigor but most importantly it had cleared his mind. For the first time since his father had tumbled over the mountain and lost his life, dude was thinking of ways to survive rather than relying on the luck of finding someone or luckily walking into a town. He knew the winter was going to be cold and the food was going to be scarce. He was to late to starting storing goods for the winter but he could find some nuts or late berries to eat it could delay the grim reaper visit.

His new line of reasoning brought him to the conclusion that he had to travel east for his best chances for survival. He then determined which way was east and picked a far off mountain peak as a landmark to guide him and keep him in an easterly direction.

Dude started walking and scanning for any food that was edible and walked and walked for days. The food he was finding was not enough to sustain him and he kept wondering where was mankind at. And then with a sudden change of wind direction it turned cold. Bitterly cold and Dude knew it was going to be a big snow. At fourteen years of age he reasoned he would just keep on waling through the night to stay warm

The snow wreaked it blistery cold upon every inch of his being. Mile after mile dude stumbled though the snow hoping to find something, someone that could help him. Walking with his head down and struggling through the snow, he lifted his head for direction when he saw a shimmering light to the south. It didn’t last long but he was sure he saw it and started heading for that direction.

Dude, exhausted kept pushing on and on as morning started to light the day. The light also brought an intense visual picture of how much snow was falling and how deep was getting. The warm sun seemed a distance memory. By that afternoon, Dude doubted he had even seen a light. But it was the only glimmer of hope he could fathom at the moment.

 Hungry, wet, tired and running out of time, Dude mind was telling him to quit, but for some unexplainable reason dude just kept walking in the direction he thought he had seen a light.

Darkness once again blanketed Colorado and the cold was bearing in. Dude knew if he stopped walking he was going to die. Walking was the only thing delaying his meeting with his maker. A meeting he was trying his hardest to delay with all his being.