I went for a hike yesterday at an inopportune time and got soaked. I was feeling like I needed to get out and do something different than the walks I’ve been doing down the street. It had rained earlier, but the sky looked fine, so I decided to hike at the nearby Deep Lock Quarry on the Towpath.
There were lots of mosquitos, and at times I heard them constantly buzzing around the hood I had put up to keep them away. I had put on some repellent, but only certain spots. I wasn’t figuring it to be that bad. I kept swatting at them. One flew almost into my eye, and I crushed it against my face. They had me considering turning around, but I wanted to get a good long walk to get more exercise in.
I saw very few people on the trail and only cyclists. I said hey to the two pairs I saw.
The sky started getting pretty grey, but I pressed on. A light drizzle started and I decided to turn around. I walked for quite a while even as it slowly increased to a rain. The trees were protecting me for a while, but as I approached some open spots, it started coming down more and more.
Though my health hasn’t been great lately, I decided I better start jogging. The rain increased from there to a strong downpour, and I increased speed. The trail was getting deeper and deeper puddles and I was getting soaked.
I came to a tunnel and stopped in it. I checked my phone, which just had a bit of moisture on the outside, and put it in my back pocket which was dry. I waited for a while, hoping the rain would die down, but it didn’t. A stream of water started flowing through the tunnel, prompting me to move to avoid it.
After a bit more waiting, I decided to run the rest of the way to my car. There was a deep puddle not far from the tunnel completely across the walkable part of the trail and grass on both sides, soaking the last dry bits of my shoes. Much of the remaining run was up hill, and I was feeling quite worn, going at a pretty slow pace.
When I finally made it to my car, I took off the hoodie I was wearing. It was so soaked it was heavy and hard to get off. I took off the bottom halves of my zip-off pants, also soaked. My phone and keys were luckily fine in my back pockets.
A group of cyclists rode into the lot just after I got in my car. They seemed to enjoy standing and riding in the lot in the rain.
When I got home, I changed out of every bit of my clothes except my underwear, which was wet, but not too bad and drying quickly. The clothes and shoes barely dried overnight. I washed the clothes and put a fan on the shoes. The fan drying took many hours, and my leather shoes now feel stiff and dirty.
I was coughing for a while and my back hurt more than usual today. I guess I’ll have to watch that forecast more closely for my next hike.