The drop of rain maketh a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.

The weather reports yesterday were bad, and they were accurate. There was a large storm coming through and there was nothing we could do. From the time was got up until just before getting to the next hut, it poured rain. the first part of the climb wasn't that tough since this was the leeward side of the mountain, but as I went up, the temperature dropped and the wind got more stiff. Mackinnion Pass is a spectacular main-divide pass surrounded by glacier encrusted mountains that is suppose to offer some massively sweeping views into lush, green valleys. Unfortunately when I got there, it was mostly a cloud catcher with buffeting winds. The top of the pass was pretty flat, and wet, and windy. Even all grayed out, it was a pretty spectacular scene. It was quite different to see rain nearly driven straight up from the valley as this pass acted as the tip of a wind tunnel. By this time the winds were very strong and I was using the hiking poles not only to brace myself from being pushed into the mountain, but more to brace in case the wind suddenly stopped and my balance over corrected me off the trail and over the precipice. Fortunately there is a day use shelter at the top. It wasn't heated, however it was protected from the rain and wind, so I was able to bring out my stove (now I was definitely glad that I brought it) and cook up one of the dehydrated meals. the best trick of all was to boil water and put it in my Nalgene bottle to use as a heat source. Prior to this point, beyond some minor conversations, I didn't really pay attention to most of the other trampers, but here their level of preparedness (or lack thereof) could be seen. Many of the people didn't have much other than a small rain poncho and certainly not something that was very effective against the wind. Since I over estimated food and had a lot of extra, I cooked up an extra meal to pass around and spent a little time heating up water; plus it kept me busy and moving in the chill.

Eventually as more folks started coming in, it was time to move ahead to make room, so I gathered my stuff (after reluctantly having been given back my water heater), and headed back out into the storm. It was really rocky even in dry times, but now there were rushing stream crossing on its way down the mountain every dozen meters with several points where I had to unbuckle the waist and chest straps in case I took a tumble and had to ditch the pack. Fortunately my footing and pole work held up the whole time. Later that evening we would learn that one of the guided walkers had broken her ankle in this section later during the day and had to be helicoptered out once the weather cleared. the thing that got me was how absolutely spectacular the waterfalls were. It was incredible to be completely surrounded by mountains several hundred meters tall with the cascading torrents of water everywhere. I wish I could have taken out the good camera, but the small waterproof camera was all I could use pretty much the entire day. I would walk a few hundred feet and then just stop, turning around and looking up like a rural boy in New York City. I could just by myself for quite a while before seeing any other signs of life. I was fairly wet, a bit cold, and I didn't care. I was simply enthralled.

Eventually I got to Quintin hut, the last lodge for the guided walkers, and were able to leave my pack in the day use shelter to make a side trip to Sutherland Falls, the fifth tallest falls in the world. Definitely the time to see a natural wonder like this is during a strong rain just to be able to experience the rush and sounds of such falling masses. It was pretty cool. Eventually I made my way to Dumpling lodge, the last hut for the trip. By that time most of the rain had stopped, so I was able to take my good camera and go back a mile or so to get some shots of a really neat set of terraced waterfalls. The hikers that later came in were quite a ragtag group. Several of them were in no way prepared for something like this. There was a French couple that had little with almost everything they had purchased from a cheap supply store. Everything they had was made of cotton (clothes, sleeping bags, socks, etc). Everything they had was soaked and with the high humidity outside (as well as inside since everyone was trying to dry their stuff at the same time by a fire near a stove), nothing was going to get dry. This was the first time any of them had ever been camping in their lives. While conceivably doing one of the best hikes in the world as your first and maybe only hike might seem like a good idea at the time, if we had been caught in a snowstorm (as did hikes last year and even earlier in the summer) they would have had to be evacuated. They were just fortunate that the temperature was as warm in the valleys as it was.

It was a pretty tough day, but all such a wondrous experience. I am so glad to have been able to have an opportunity to experience such a thing.