Clambering among the reddish rocky outcrops on the north side of Sonora Pass, I met a hiker named Martin from the Czech Republic. We struck up a conversation and proceeded to hike most of the day together, swapping trail stories and discovering a shared love of watching the stars in the brilliantly clear Sierra sky. We ate lunch on a flat boulder halfway up a canyon, airing our feet out and changing socks to avoid blisters.
After lunch the sky steadily grew darker as rain clouds gathered on the horizon. Soon enough we could see lightning crackling to the south, and this time once the rain began it kept going all afternoon. Following the trail across an open ridge, I took my ice axe/lightning rod from the top of my pack and carried it in my hand instead in what was probably a futile effort (Martin certainly thought so). When the thunder seemed as if it were ripping directly overhead we decided to wait out the heart of the storm and sheltered in some dense forest. This was my first real day of rain on the trail, and I enjoyed listening to the drops plop quietly among the trees. The music of the rain.
Russell on the Road 