Woke up to a nice sunrise, but by the time we were packing up rain was starting. I couldn’t find a detailed mountain forecast, but The Valley forecast called for rain so it wasn’t a surprise.
From camp we did the short hike to the end of the lake and then up the steep headwall. As we approached what we hoped was the top we heard thunder. Thunderstorms above tree like are dangerous, but not only were we above tree line, we were also at one of the highest points around. We pressed on hoping that we were close to the top and knowing the trail descended rather quickly down the other side.
The view from the top was actually impressive, the taller mountains were in the clouds but much of the rest was visible and the lakes we were hiking down to looked really nice.
It started raining harder. Then wet hail and more thunder and lightning. At one point we found shelter under some rocks when a cell came particularly close. We got cold sitting and waiting so as soon and the lightning passes we got moving again.
More thunder, more rain and hail. I made the mistake of wearing my wind gloves, which are great for a little rain but don’t keep my hands warm, I switched to my wool gloves but then I didn’t have a dry pair. My rain pants apparently aren’t as effective as they once were, they soaked through after the first hour. I went with trail runners so of course they were wet, Betty brought with boots and her feet were even wet. My new rain jacket actually stayed completely dry, I was impressed, so thankfully my core was dry, Betty wasn’t so lucky, she’s not sure of she was sweating or if her jacket just wetted out in all the rain, we did notice that the DWR coating on her jacket needed refreshing, so the jacket is probably less waterproof than it could be.
The rain stopped and the sun came out for a couple minutes, and we were thankful. Of course the rain, thunder and hail all came back.
When we got to the second lake we found a small structure, possibly a bunker? It was big enough to fit both of us inside, the floor was wet and there were lots of rocks inside and a large concrete table talking up most of the room. Normally I’d call it uncomfortable, but today I was thrilled to be safe from the lightning and out of the rain, it was a perfect spot for lunch. We looked at the map and decided to try for a refugio that night, the weather was just too much. It was honestly probably the worst weather day I’ve had on trail.
We tried to wait for a break or at least a slow period in the rain, but it just kept raining, so we got walking. Shortly after leaving the bunker we got treated to one final burst of hail and heavy rain. The trail headed down, as it descended it got a bit warmer, which was nice. The rain slowed to a normal rain. We could see a road and some buildings below, all the streams flowing into the valley were overflowing and made great waterfalls everywhere.
Finally we got got the bottom and three was a 1.8 km side trail to one refugi to the south and another one just 5 km further on the trail. We choose the one to the south because it sounded more likely to get a cell signal and have facilities. Refugis can be anything from a full service hut to a couple rock walls.
The hut was nice, there was a fire going in the main room and they had two beds available, which was amazing. We were able to get a weather forecast… which was not good.