Yale Ya'll!
I had full intentions on getting an alpine start this morning. After struggling to find the trailhead and almost killing a dear I settled into what I thought was the trailhead for the night. My alarm was set for 5:30 am and with the relatively short distance to the summit of Yale I knew I'd be more than fine getting up and down well before 1 pm when the weather was to role in. Instead I slept through my alarm and didn't get to the trailhead (which I wasn't sleeping at) until 8am. I wasn't worried because I knew I would still be back down in plenty of time.
Lopi and I made quick progress on the assent and passed nearly everyone who was out hiking Yale today. We made it to the summit in a little over 2 and a half hours. We had the whole summit to ourselves so we enjoyed every minute of it. The sky looked threatening but I was sure it would hold off for a while. We blasted off the summit for a fast and quick descent. In no time we were below the treeline and I felt safer about a storm approaching. You could hear the thunder rumbling but no rain had started to fall.
Less than a mile from the van the sky opened up. This time it didn't drizzle before the down pour it just began full force. Hail and rain mixed together soaking and stinging my skin. I opened up my stride and ran as fast as I could by the time I reached a big tree I quickly pulled my rain jacket out through it on and made fast work towards the van. It didn't matter that I was only in the rain/hail for less than 10 minutes I was still soaked to the bone and the wet dog beside me was now asleep in my bed. I checked the clock showing only 11. I was thankful I had been so close to the van but bummed the weather rolled in so early. The storm continued to rage for another few hours as Lopi and I hid in the van. Tomorrow we have big plans to do multiple peaks... Hopefully the weather is a little better tomorrow. Fingers crossed!