I was on target for a 2 o'clock start. As I left the post office where I sent my bounce box to Aspen, I walked into the rain. Really? The second I start to hike out it starts raining? So I made a few phonecalls from under shelter and walked down to the end of the main street commercial strip. My new route was south on US 550 a couple miles to Bear Creek Trailhead then up Bear Creek National Recreation Trail. Up ahead I could see the rain coming down so I ducked into the Billy Goat Gruff Biergarten to wait out the weather. Great idea but it was after 5:00 when I left. Then after the road walk I got on the wrong trail and lost an hour. It really wasn't my fault. I was to go up a mountain on the left side of the road and that is what the map showed too. So I hiked up the only trail leaving the parking lot on the left. It was a horrible trail and I kept thinking this can't be it, but there wasn't anything else. Then suddenly it came to me. There was a trail on the other side of the road next to where US 550 passes through a short tunnel. I realized it must cross 550 over the tunnel. Sure enough that was it. I turned around and bushwacked until I intersected it. At least I found a nice spot to camp on the side of this very steep slope.