Your Friendly Hise Hikers Tuesday Tip: Keep An Eye On Those Skies. 😉

Last weekend, we planned to summit a peak in the Sierras. We checked the weather and saw the forecast called for scattered thunderstorms, which is not great weather for peak-bagging. lol

We reformulated our plan and ended up hiking in another location that also had thunderstorms in the forecast, which is ok for regular hiking, so long as precautions are taken.

We packed our rain gear, checked the forecast a few more times, and if there’s one thing we’ve learned hiking in the Sierras, it’s that anything over a 20% chance of showers pretty much means it’s going to rain.

Seeing the 21% chance in the forecast – we were prepared.

Part of the group we were hiking with turned back at the first lake because one party member was feeling tired.

We agreed that we would hike another 15 minutes and then turn back, all meeting back in the parking lot to have lunch afterward.

The pretty little poofy clouds (we call them Ferris Bueller movie clouds) starting accumulating in the sky and Jason and I both agreed that we would keep our eye on the skies and make sure to turn back if needed.

We hiked on for another 15 minutes and got to the headwaters of the next lake… before turning around, we noticed there were a couple of groups of hikers climbing up Round Top Peak. I mentioned to Jason that the storm clouds building in the distance of Round Top would make me nervous if I were climbing that peak right now.

On our return, we started noticing the clouds were growing and now looking a whole lot more like storm clouds.

We agreed that change in the sky meant we were going to “boogie our asses back down the trail.”

And we did.

Along the way, we stopped and took a few photos – still enjoying everything – just you know, at a slightly faster pace. hehe

About a mile or mile-and-a-half to the trailhead, we started feeling some rain drops. And hearing the thunder rolling in the distance.

Clouds were darkening.

More thunder.

We made it back to our truck before the skies really opened up… and this served as another reminder for us to keep those safety protocols polished and always at the ready.

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