Soggy Independence day hike on Marion Mtn trail

[Norris]

Climbed the Marion Mountain trail yesterday, and got hammered by the afternoon thunderstorm on the descent. Got a late start due to working late Thursday night, so left the dirt parking area at 8:15 am, much later than usual for me. And for the first time, I did notice a few bugs in the first 45 minutes. I'm guessing my gnat encounter was caused by my later start, but who knows? Could be climate change
Anyway, shortly before 2:00 pm the heavens opened. Hail about 3/8" in diameter, which within 5 minutes turned to sleet and then to rain.
The trail turned into a raging torrent. I had to hike alongside the trail on the pine duff to avoid wading. At times the torrent would leave the trail and head more directly downhill, and if you didn't stay alert you could lose the trail if you got lulled into just negotiating footing next to the stream. Got back to my car totally soaked from the waist down, so I stripped out of my hiking shoes and pants and sat on a folded towel all the way home to avoid ruining the leather seats in my Jeep. This gave me an extra incentive to avoid getting stopped by the CHP on the holiday, they were out in force
Shortly before the storm broke, I passed a young couple on their way up, clad only in shorts and t-shirts and carrying nothing but camel baks. Hope they made out OK.

[elementK]

Hey, I did an overnight yesterday up Deer Springs to LRV, and got caught in the storm right before the Marion junction. We ran into the couple you spoke of after the storm cleared. Just so you know, they were ok, but a little soaked. They turned around and got shelter before the top!

[halhiker]

Any lightning? Last time I got caught in a San Jacinto thunderstorm I came within about 100 feet of being incinerated.

[Norris]

No lightning, at least not that I noticed. And not much thunder either. The first few rumbles happened on the summit, prompting a large group of folks to high-tail it out of there. Now that I think about it, this was the first serious thunderstorm I have ever been in on this mountain, which is kind of amazing given the number of times I have hiked it, going all the way back to 1983. Glad the under-equipped couple made it out OK.

[zippetydude]

Hi Norris, good to see you (figuratively)! Nothing more wonderful than a monsoon storm in the high country...provided you're not incinerated. I had a similar encounter with lightning (hi hal) and it scared the bejeezus out of me. Still, it's so much fun and so different from the ordinary day that I just love it. Glad you had such a fun encounter. With these early storms it makes me hopeful for a crazy wild monsoon season to begin replenishing the water table (such as it is) in our local wilderness areas.

z

[cynthia23]

Hi Zip, yes, like you I'm hoping we may get a rainy season one of these days ... maybe this El Nino will do something good .

I remember one really severe thunderstorm that caught me coming down from Wellman's found me running for my life and then taking shelter in one of the wooden outhouses near Round Valley. I don't know why I thought I would be safer in there? Talk about "any shelter in a storm"!

[zippetydude]

I think the actual phrasing is, "Any old port(apotty) in a storm."

z

[Ulysses]

Norris. Thanks for the trip report. I'm jealous. I was grounded and stuck doing yard work all weekend. I was wondering what it was like up on the mountain Friday. We had a little rain in Idyllwild (very pleasant) and we also heard some thunder.