Thunder, Lightning, Hail, & lot's of Rai n..O My TR

“I planned a trip to the Sierra's with a friend for about six months. As many of you read, this was to be my first light weight backpacking trip. This would come back to haunt me in a big way.
On Friday, we drove up to La Grange and spent the night so we could get an 'early' start on the trail head. Unfortunately, we did not count on spending a half hour at the McDonald's in Oakhurst. After we finally ate our breakfast and picked up the permits, we drove up to the trail head. This was a 26 mile road that was very rutted for about 20 miles. There were two vehicles in front of me and we ate dirt for over an hour. My poor BBT suffered too as it was reduced to about 5 miles to the gallon as the air filter became more clogged.

Eventually, we made it to the trail head at Quartz Mountain. As we were about to set off down the trail, a couple people came back and mentioned the massive quantities of Mosquitos. Back into the truck we went for the repellant. The trail itself was not too difficult as we made our way to Chain Lakes. We went all the way to the third one even though the second one was prettier. We did have a great view of Gayle Peak but as the sun was setting, the clouds had rolled in and it sprinkled lightly.

Day 2 - We day hiked up to Gayle Peak. There is no trail from the lake so we climbed up a drainage to the ridge line that separated Breez Lake from Chain Lakes. Then we proceeded to traverse across through a very large boulder field as we went up. I was pretty nervous as I had never done this type of climbing before and we were actually using our hands most of the time to pull ourselves up another step. Eventually we made it to the top of Gayle Peak where we signed the register and could see in the distance the back of Half Done. We took a different route down and were actually able to have a little fun on the remaining snow slopes by glissading where we could. The clouds had rolled back in but we couldn't help jumping into Breeze Lake briefly before hitting the trail (?) back to camp. As we were climbing over the ridge, lightning and thiunder began in the canyons behind and continued getting closer. As we crested the ridge and began our descent into camp, still about a mile away, it began hailing on us. Nope, I had no water proof shell to which I cursed the lightweight Gods. It was supposed to be summer, late August, and I only brought a windshell. The hail became bigger, and more painful and now the thunder was right on top of us. We could time the lightning strikes and the thunder at less than two seconds. Our pace picked up and suddenly we saw a strike right in front of us and instantly the sky exploded with sound. I stumbled back to get away from the sound and almost knocked down one of our group. We could see lightning striking on the granite peaks all around where our camp was.

We made it back to camp to the immense relief of the people huddled in their tents waiting for us to return. We made soup for everyone and drank some of the beer we had toted up to the campsite. After about an hour the sky cleared a little. We were able to have dinner and get a fire started before the light show began again. I made a mad dash for my tent just as the rain began again. I fell asleep to the sights and sounds of a lively storm oustide my tent door. It rained all night and it was very windy. I am happy to say that my tent (Eureka Spitfire) help up very well. In the morning it was still drizzling as some of the party packed up to go home. We decided to stay in that site for an extra layover day due to the rain.

http://community.webshots.com/album/428572868UZcOPr”

“Sounds like you had fun? Glad you're all safe. There are a lot of lightning stories this year.

Hey, my daughter is moving into a trailer, just like the one in your 'reputation' from Winterfest. Whew. But her horse and dogs are welcome. And with luck, it'll clean up nice enough.”

“Karen,
Yes, it was fun, scary at times, but a good time was had by all. I am not sure I want to do the lightweight thing again as i really coulda used some of my heavier gear.”

“I always carry Precip jacket and pants and a midweight fleece, and I always use them. The Precips make a good wind layer even if it doesn't rain. I get cold in the evenings. I got a lighter weight fleece (no hood) for the JMT trip, thinking it wouldn't matter much, but I noticed it and will probably carry my original from now on.
Did you see the Virginia Lakes trip posted for October? We're planning on that one.”

“The Virginia Lakes trip sounds great...only I have no more time left for BPing that involves taking time off of work. Unless, I call in sick!”

“I was scared reading your lightning story. Glad you made it. I liked your pictures too. Looks like fun.”

“Yes, the lightning was very close. While it was hailing, the granite was getting slick and I was moving as quickly as I could to get down from the ridge without falling and breaking my neck. The hail was pretty painful as it was striking my ears. I was wearing a cap that left the ears exposed. Perfect target for both mosquitoes and hail.”

“the one thing that scares me when i'm in the woods, lightning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“I used to live in Parker AZ, where during monsoon season, the lightning would strike all around and the thunder was quite loud. But nothing, IMHO, can compare to the sound of thunder in the granite peaks and canyons of the sierras. It just booms and echos and sounds like the sky is ripping wide open....scary!”

“No rain gear, but room for beer.

This isn't a 'going lightweight' problem, LOL.”

“hehehe, well I didn't pack the beer. I just helped drink it. The people that came in for two nights and were leaving carried the beer and a five liter bag of wine.”

“I guess you have to pack light weight to be able to pack the beer. I have to agree. Who needs rain gear. Was it Coors Light just to stay with the theme? Great pics. Looks like youall had fun.”

“Not coors light....something like either Boddington's or Murphy's. Not light at all!”