Yeah, Donahue…once hiking north towards the pass, I kept an eye on approaching storm clouds the whole way up. Reaching the pass I found a small group eating lunch. Hey, time for a snackaroo! “Ever feel like you just dodged a bullet?” I chirped to the others, referencing the weather. In ten minutes another group of three marched past going north at a fast clip. Suddenly, flash boom. No real interval between the two. the peaks to the immediate east have hidden the storm’s approach. We’re all up scrambling to put on packs as the rain begins and the flashes continue. It’s a long, steep and completely exposed descent over now rain slickened talus boulders and rock. Flashboom! over and over. It’s right over us. there are two somewhat tricky rock and log crossings over deep water to manage–slow going and it’s hard to concentrate when lightning is hitting all around. Finally I descended into forest. Holy crap! but in a few minutes, I began to enjoy the storm, feeling protected.
It’s not the rain in this instance–the lightning will do you in first.
.
