MM 1803: The Winds reminded me of the Sierra Nevada, almost identical. The only difference was the Winds had more bursts of green and less dust.
Today, I felt called to experience a thunderstorm. I was walking up a pass and the clouds that were building revealed that it was a terrible idea. The moment the lighting struck, thunder followed within less than a second of hesitation. I jumped several times from the vibrations.
Heavy rain started to follow and shortly after that, hail. I saw a guy coming down from the pass and we both shouted, “Ayyy!” He said, “I’m glad I wasn’t the only dumbass who decided to summit this during a storm.” It truly was one of the top 10 stupidest shit I’ve done. But hey, the inspiration was there and so I followed it.
In the moment of the rain pouring down my bag and through the crevices of my jacket, I caught myself smiling quite often. I remembered when I was in my cozy room, longing to be walking through a thunderstorm, contemplating life. And here I was in the midst of it and it felt exhilarating.
However, after a couple hours of walking through cold rain and hail, I started to shiver and knew it was time to set up camp despite it being super early. I was algid and soaked to the bone. I could feel myself entering the first stages of hypothermia. I was glad I called it when I did because it took me several hours to reheat again. It continued to rain the rest of the night.
