(…or, “Dammit, I left my rain gear in the boat!”)

This morning a small group of us (six) headed out to the Siphon Draw trail.  Weather reports predicted rain around noon, and the early morning skies didn’t look that bad!  We were even treated to a rainbow on our way to the trailhead.

Siphon Draw trail is basically the “on ramp” to the trek (“climb”?) up to the Flatiron.  It’s about a 3 mile hike over the talus slope and then up through a crack in the face of mountain.

Below is our view from a spot soon after we started up the trail this morning.  Our path will take us up and around that large mountain in the center of the scene.  The yellow flowers are brittlebush, which are quite unusual for this time of year.  Normally you’d not expect such a widespread bloom until maybe mid-March.

As our small group moved up the mountain, the cloud cover changed from broken overcast to “ya know, it just might rain!”  With temperatures in the upper 40’s, a good soaking rain didn’t sound like my idea of fun.  Everyone else in the group had rain gear, but mine was safely stored in my walleye boat in son Carls’ barn back in Minnesota.

From the location in the photo below I hiked about another half mile up the mountain.  By that time a rather steady drizzle had started, so I wimped out and turned back to the trailhead rather than get soaked and cold.  My companions continued their hike, snug in their comfy rain gear.

Meandering back down the mountain, I took a second photo of the brittlebush scene (see below) —I wondered how snug my friends were up inside that wet looking cloud which now covered the mountain.

Just as I reached the comfort of my truck the rain started in earnest.  I was happy that I’d turned sissy!

It’s rained pretty steady all day since and with cool temps overnight, we might get lucky and find that mountain covered with snow to start the new year, in which case I’ll head back out to get some shots of that tomorrow.

Happy New Year to all!