Rain and wind in the forecast, Lets go hiking

My hunting partner Al and I talk all last week about getting out and scouting a new area on the opposite side of our hunting spot. The forecast for the end of the week was looking to be the hardest rain we had got in 3-5 years. This year has been extremely dry with hardly any rain. So we needed the rain, but Al and I needed to get out of the house and hit the trail. We emailed back and forth Thursday and Friday with weather maps, models and road closers for the surrounding area we would be hiking. I made the call to give its go and at least get to the trail head. Expecting the worst I was ready for a warm breakfast instead of a hike. When we arrived at the trail head there was a light sprinkle but it seemed to be letting up. As usual we were the only car parked at the trail. That was fine since I'm not out there to hike with the masses, we want to get away.

At the start of the trail we had a few stream crossings to get over to access the trail. With the rains the  streams were now mini rivers. On 2 of the crossings I had to jump from my last rock to other side of the bank, about 4' to clear the water. At this point I was trying to stay dry. I knew the rain was all around us, so it was only a matter of time.

    

                                                               View of the incoming rain

We hiked a total of 12 miles that day. We did glass a little, with the conditions we were faced with we both knew the deer would not be moving. It felt great to get out and enjoy the day on the trail.  We had to put the rain gear on a few times but it quickly passed. Then we would strip layers off and continue on. It rained on us the last 45 minutes. I figure it was getting myself ready for elk in Colorado this year. When we got back to the car Al had brought 2 Pats Backcountry Brew. Check out his review on http://socalbowhunter.blogspot.com. Mine will be following as I just picked up one.

                                                                      Crazy Manzanita 

I was glad we ended up going and not being a typical Californian. It was a great hike and lots of talk about our upcoming elk hunt.