What a wild “weather day” it was today in Rocky Mountain National Park. Today I experienced everything except snow. It was raining, hailing, thunder/lighting, and high winds…and…it was cold most of the hike up. I got hailed on twice and rained on three different times during the seven hour hike.

I hit the trail early this morning and it was already raining when I started at 8:OO. In hindsight this was probably a good thing because if it had been sunny this morning I might have been tempted to leave my jacket behind…which…would have been a big mistake.

I was tempted to turn around on this hike a couple of times because of the rain. It’s not that I can’t handle the rain but I found myself thinking why go to all the bother to hike up over 3,000 feet if I can’t see the surrounding peaks when I get there. And, if I can’t see the peaks than there are no pictures to take…but…I marched along listening to my IPOD looking for signs of clearing.

Just when I was thinking about turning around the sky began to open up a bit so I trudged on and by the time I reached the top of Flattop Mountain the sun was now shining…at least for a few moments. While on top I explored a bit and took a few pictures before I decided to hike to the top of another nearby peak called Hallett. I never intended to hike to the top of this mountain but when I saw a number of people coming down from the top I said , what the heck. I was feeling really strong this day.

It took me about a half an hour to reach the top but unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay long, like about three minutes, because a huge black cloud was headed my way and I didn’t want to get stuck at the top of the mountain. I did get off the top of Hallett peak in time but I wasn’t able to get off the top of Flattop mountain before all hell broke lose. I was totally exposed when the wind, rain, and hail hit. Fortunately, I brought two rain jackets with me and was wearing both of them when mother nature unleashed her fury. I was never in any kind of danger because the equipment I have is very good but the hail was stinging my legs and it was becoming a bit uncomfortable. When the storm hit it was intense, especially the wind…and…it was very cold…but, thank goodness it was short lived before it moved on to wreck havoc with the fellow hikers below….and…. the sun came out to play again., and life in the alpine zone was back to normal for this time of the year.

Tomorrow is my last day in the mountains of Colorado before I head home. Not sure where I will go hiking tomorrow. It all depends on my body. Today I hiked about ten miles but climbed over 3,500 feet which is substantial. I’ll wait and see how I feel in the morning before I decide what to do and than hopefully bring back another report and some pictures.