Don’t Forget to Check the Weather Report

I forgot to check the weather report before leaving for Wood Canyon this past Saturday. The skies were gray and cloudy, but it’s been that way for days. I expected as much, but did not expect rain (don’t know why – just didn’t). Running into the canyon was like running into a fairy tale forest where some huntsman lurked in the shadows waiting to nab the princess (and the princess was not I!). It was cold. It was dark. It was beautiful. Then, a little less than two miles in, the rain began to fall. It wasn’t a hard rain. It was a soft rain, composing beautiful music as millions of tiny drops of water hit the trees above. It was one of those instances that nearly brought tears of joy to my eyes. My lack of planning however, left me without plastic baggies to protect my electronics. Quickly, I scooted into a grove of trees and put my ipod in my pocket and buried my phone and camera deep within my pack.

Turned out, I was fine running in the rain. But let this be a word to the wise . . . always check the weather report. And also, pack some plastic baggies. Always have them. They don’t take up much space. And they are invaluable protecting electronics.

The rain vanished within the half hour. But I knew that with the morning’s rain and the rain the night prior, I was going to face some trouble going up Meadows Trail. No matter how much rain comes down (even the slightest) Meadows turns to thick, slippery mud. And it did not disappoint on Saturday. After about .75 of a mile up Meadows, for every five steps I took, I slid back two. It took me double the time to conquer Meadows, and it wasn’t without mishap. When I could, I stuck to the edge and traipsed through the brush. That was not always possible however. On one slide back down, my left leg began sliding, but my right foot had sunk so deeply into the mud that it would not budge. In order put a screech on the slide (else do the splits of something worse like break my leg), I simply plopped my body down into the mud. And there I lay for a moment trying to figure out how to get back up on my feet. With some branch grabbing I succeeded and continued the slow, sticky trip up to the top.

Still quite cold out, the remainder of my run after summiting Meadows trail was stunning. The skies opened up to expose blue. Clouds brightened up a bit and scattered across the sky in a fairy-tale like display of splendor. All ten miles of this run-hike was perfect – the rain, the mud, the big white puffy clouds – all of it, perfect.