Third time's the charm? When it comes to me and Ventana Wilderness, apparently not! I had tried on two previous occasions to do backpack trips down here, and each was canceled because of strong storms delivering too much rain. In this case there was still rain in the forecast, but since there weren't any severe weather advisories, Omi and I decided to go for it!

We got started at the trailhead around 11am on Saturday, and hit the trail with the goal of having camp set up before a) dark and b) rain. As indicated in the guidebook, the trail was indeed strenuous, with some pretty serious elevation gain right away. Also of note was the incredible amount of poison oak along the trails. This would not be a place to wear shorts at any time of the year! We took our time and enjoyed the scenery, always keeping an eye on the clouds. Turns out we needn't have worried too much, as the rain didn't start coming down until we had both set up the tents and had dinner. Nice. Anyway, by then it was dark so there wasn't much to do other than head for the cover of our tents. The rain came down hard for many hours. Despite our best efforts, some water did get into the tents. There was just too much volume to hold at bay. I managed to stay warm and dry in my sleeping bag so that was a plus.

The next morning was cold and dry, and the winds had died down a bit. I managed to get up to the ridge to catch some of the sunrise, which was really impressive with the mist swirling through the mountains. The rain started back up again while we were having breakfast (a damp stove is hard to light...), and when it was time to break camp the rain turned to sleet! Fingers and toes were quite chilled by the time everything was packed up. At which point the rain pretty much stopped, with just some light misting accompanying us. By the time we were close to the end the sky was clearing up nicely and I was ready for my sunglasses!