The Weimanuche

We are hiking in the infamous Weimanuche Wilderness.  This is the part that everyone has told us is the hardest hiking they've done.  We've heard a lot of stories of wind and cold and snow.  For us there is very little snow and so far hasn't been to windy.  However there are longer, steeper climbs and descents.  We planned fifteen mile days for it, especially taking afternoon thunderstorms into consideration.  Well today we had a big hailstorm.  The clouds started building early and by noon there was a big one growing rapidly.  We descended off trail to find a safe place to pitch our tents.  

The sky darkened and then let loose.  Thunder, lightning, and large pea sized hail assaulted our little tents.  But they did a great job.  I had to keep knocking off the accumulation on the tent.  We ate lunch.  I took a nap.  Four hours later we were able to pack up and hike on.  We survived our first big storm unscathed.  

The trail climbed steadily to a high pass and then descended two thousand feet down into a valley.  We found another great camping spot.  I've been very hungry today and it's only day two.