Heather: We were taking our time hiking down from the meadows, when Sheryl looked ahead and saw some ominous clouds coming up the canyon. We could hear thunder down the valley so headed for the cover of a grove of spruce trees. Just as we were about to leave the trees the wind became ferocious. We dropped our metal poles and were headed back to the trees, when we heard the loud crack of a tree splitting. We could not tell which tree was falling as all the trees were twisting and bending in the wind. So we just started running back down the trail. We were going to run out of the trees when the hail hit!
Suddenly we were being bombarded by the biggest hail stones I have ever seen! All we could do was stay huddled up to the closest tree trunks and try to keep the hail from hitting us too hard. I had a plastic poncho that Norm had put in my hiking vest which we tried to hold over our heads. Didn't help much, but was better than nothing!.
The hike out after the storm was a messy affair! The trail was covered with icy marbles which made walking most difficult. Water was pouring down the trail and our feet were soaked and our shoes socks and legs were muddy. I was very grateful that I had those 2 walking poles to keep me upright!
Kevin and the girls had gone ahead of us on the way back so they were at the trail head when the storm hit. They were a little worried and Kevin started to hike back to find us. We were almost down when he met us. By then the sun was shining and all was well. I had a wonderful time -- I even loved the storm! I was so glad that Corena and Kevin took the time to show Sheryl and me that beautiful canyon -- what an adventure we had together together!
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