Report to Hikers: week of April 2-April 8

Hello Hikers!

Wednesday April 4

Stevens Suspension Bridge to the bluffs on the north side of Fall Creek in Monkey Run

It was supposed to rain but Tiger and I studied the hour-by-hour forecast and it seemed like we could get in a nice hike with minimal rainfall — the idea was especially appealing because it was supposed to be very mild until later in the afternoon

Unfortunately it started to rain pretty hard before we got very far. It was also muddier than I expected

Two hikers weren’t having fun and called it quits

I like hiking in the rain and I don’t mind a bit of mud, so I was enjoying myself. But it started to rain even harder and the path got even wetter. Five more hikers soon turned back.

Gopi is a daredevil but she was unwilling to go the last five feet out to the slender tree on the edge like I wanted her to do

The temperature started to drop, although that wasn’t supposed to happen for some hours. It was definitely getting chilly.

Then the rain eased off and we got some great atmospherics

My hands were quite cold by the end, but unless we take a chance and venture out on a day with an iffy forecast we can’t hope to see any of the wonderful effects you can get during bad weather