North Cascades Highway
2002

All right, we started out from Colonial Creek Campground at 9:30 and began climbing in gorgeous, 70 degree weather up to Washington Pass. There were not too many cars out, the shoulder is wide and we (all eight of us) were in great spirits!

After a snack on the overlook and a BLAZING fast descent into Mazama for pizza rolls and Coke, the wind kinda started to pick up a tad... As we left the general store, dust and leaves were swirling around the parking lot and trees were starting to bend just a bit. 'No problem' we thought, we could still see breaks in the clouds up towards the top of the pass and it was still nice and warm so off we went. My, how things can change...

Within a couple of miles, we were feeling the widely spaced rain drops that usually indicate the onset of a massive thunder storm. Sure enough, within another couple of miles, we were being positively hammered by rain. It was still warm, but the water was just bouncing off of the road surface. Amazing. Did any of us have a rain coat? Fenders? Arm or leg warmers...? Ha!

Surprisingly, I was still in a super mood. It had been several days since I had ridden my bicycle at all and to be here with friends (even some grumpy ones) was a blast. And like I said, it was not cold. Yet... About six miles from the summit of Washington Pass, the rain stopped! Out came the sun and we thought we were home free. The pace picked up a bit and we were thinking that this wasn't so bad after all. This mood and these conditions lasted until about 500 yards past the summit when the rain started up again.

This time it was for real. Within the space of about three minutes, the rain turned from random drops to a monsoon to a full-on hail storm. I was descending in a tuck and as the rain increased in severity, I kinda tipped my head down a bit lower in order to use my visor to shield my eyes from the onslaught. All of a sudden I was noticing that the stuff falling out of the sky was really starting to hurt my knees.

Aside - I had fallen on a ride two weeks prior to this one and still had some bandages on my knees and the impact of the hail on my scrapes at 35 mph was actually quite painful.

Within about 30 seconds, the pain was no longer localized to my knees, it was like riding into a sand blaster! Except that the grains of sand were HUGE. In total shock, we pulled over to the side of the road and wondered what we were going to do. Imagine, here we were on a mountain pass, in short sleeve jerseys and the hail is piling up so fast we are leaving tracks on the highway as if we were going skiing. By now, the hail stones were a good 1/4" in size and it was doubtful if we could even ride at all. I recall wondering what the drivers of the cars that passed us must have thought. Stupid cyclists... what a bunch of complete idiots!

Alan said he recalled some 'shelter' just a bit down the road so we gingerly descended another 500 yards, pulled into the parking lot at the base of the hill and I have never been so glad to get under the roof of an outhouse as that exact moment. Yes, our shelter was the 'foyer' of a porta-potty at a trail head. Stinky, but out of the damn hail.

I was STILL in pretty good spirits. I mean, how could you NOT laugh at our predicament? And, I was not yet shivering uncontrollably although that was not vary far off...

We soon realized that we needed to find a ride down off the mountain. Riding in these conditions was not a safe thing to do. Thankfully, we ran into a couple on a Harley also seeking shelter in the outhouse and they had friends in cars that offered us a ride back to our cars. Did they mind that we were sopping wet? No. Thanks a bunch you kind, hog-riding strangers you.

Another aside - as usually happens on group rides that go up long climbs, our group broke up into smaller groups just a few miles from the start. This situation didn't change any on the return trip from Mazama. Because of this, some of us spent considerably more time in the hail than others. Note to self: make sure everyone is prepared when you ride in the mountains.

Incredibly, as we drove down towards our cars, I watched the air temperature climb from below 50 to 76 degrees in a matter of about five miles. All precipitation stopped, the sun came out and it was NICE. Upon arriving at the cars, (almost) everyone was warm, smiling and able to laugh about their experience. In the end, our planned 100 mile ride ended up being something like 80 but we all survived.

Many thanks to Kim, Alan, Lezlie, Larry, Tim and others for the company.

As I type this one day after the fact, I can STILL see very faint, little red marks on my arms & legs from where the hail left welts on the descent. Wild...

Here are the pictures.