40 F for a low in January.. heh.. that's often the best I can hope for in July

So having said that I'll give you the story of another newbie, not one of mine. A couple years ago I'm yoyoing the same trail in the pics above, here's a young late teens, early 20-something guy.. he's backpacking with something like 6 attractive young ladies of the same age. I think he was the S.O. of one of them. Not sure if it was newbieness, or Testosterone Poisoning, but he was carrying a macho load and wouldn't get rid of any of it.. the net result was whenever we were around them was sort of a constant sour look and whining... meanwhile the ladies seemed to be having a grand old time on the trail. they'd come over and chat up us old guys who knew the trail to get advice, or rescue one of their cameras dropped 6 feet into somewhere inaccessable (I managed to McGyver it out) meanwhile he spend his time sulking in camp, was quite obviously miserable and couldn't wait to get home.

(I really don't understand the youth of today, when I was that age I had dreams that looked a lot like backpacking for a week with 6 ladies, but seeing him living it I don't think my dreams ever had me that miserable...)

so.. make sure you do things you both enjoy, and watch out for signs of Testosterone Poisoning.