It was a cold and wet day today, one of about three truly rainy days on trail. The last day like this would have been on the way up to Mike’s Place, the one before must have been Mt Laguna, both feel like lifetimes ago. The trail today took us up the Salmon River until we were near the bush line of Mt Adams. We then began circling around the western side of the mountain. All day we were in the clouds and freezing rain, when we got 9.4 miles, 15.1 km, we saw a great tentsite and called in an early day.

When I woke up this morning, it hadn’t started raining yet. I was luckily able to eat breakfast outside my tent and pack it up dry. As I was leaving camp, the drizzle began, and the forecast was for it to worsen. We walked through the forest for a while which sheltered us from the rain, but soon found ourselves out in a burn zone. After walking through the open for several hours, I was once again very glad to have an umbrella with me.

After hours in the burn zone, we began to see trees again. We had hoped to get a bit of shelter among the trees, but they were too small and low branched to walk under. The rain continued to get heavier, and the air was getting colder. We spotted a campsite on the map a few miles up, and decided that if it continued raining then we’d set up camp there.

We got to the campsite just after 2 pm, and called it a day. As if to underline our decision, it started raining heavily just as we walked up to the tent sites. I warmed up in my tent, changed into dry clothes and cooked some more bratwurst for dinner. After a while, the rain stopped, and two other hikers at camp decided to try lighting a fire. While we were gathering wood, a patch of clear sky opened up and we discovered an amazing view of Mt Adams right above us.

We spent the afternoon hanging around the fire which kept us warm for hours. In the evening, we put the fire out and headed to bed. An early night and a long sleep in my warm and dry sleeping bag was just what I wanted.