Really, we're going up there?

Gavin, Becca, and I went to Lost Creek Wilderness, Colorado to backpack last June. Becca hadn't done any altitude hiking before, and she was really surprised at how difficult it was to climb hills. She was complaining (good-naturedly) the first day about how we had to climb up and then went back down over, and over, and over. The first day was actually very little altitude gain overall, and none of the climbs was more than a few hundred feet at a time. The second day, however, we had to climb this ridge, which was a elevation gain of about 1000 ft in about a mile. Gavin and I came to this outlook, and said - wow, we should move on and maybe Becca won't see this. Well, she did. We made it up, eventually. Actually, the trail was switchbacked at a very reasonable grade, and was very well maintained. Not much clambering over rocks or roots required, which is what really wears out my legs fast.