And it Continues to Rain

So Saturday rolled around but all night it rained and was still raining when I received an email that the Bicycle Ranch shop ride was cancelled.  Too bad.  I was so looking forward to seeing if I could duplicate the humiliation of last Saturday's effort.  Don't feel too bad for me because the rain is usually late afternoon stuff and almost never an all day affair. There I was, watching the 1st quarter of the MI/MSU game when I thought, "Do I really want to sit all day watching football?"...well yes I do but guilt forced me out of the chair and I returned to complete the Sombrero Peak hike.  Reaching the portion of the trail where I turned around yesterday, I heard rumble in the distance and saw rain to the east but to the southwest.....

....from where the storms track, it was clear. Reaching the base of the rock wall and summit, I go clockwise to reach the only point from where you can scramble up to the peak.  I saw some cairns going a little farther north and follow them and reach....

.....hmmmm, nothing looked right as the cairns had led me to a second, lower peak.  Looking southwest, I saw the real peak and so scrambled through the jumble of rock.....

....and was now looking at where I had been.  A little sketchy in spots but other than some exposure, a fun scramble.

I found the ammo box and a notebook inside and signed my name.  My finger is holding down the page to prevent the wind from blowing it closed and not pointing at anything in particular.

To the east, rain was still coming down as the storm seemed to linger but still to the southwest......

.....it remained clear all the way to the parking lot but while descending.....

....I heard a scraping sound and spotted this desert tortoise.  What struck me as odd is it is about the only thing of that size that isn't meant to sting, bite or impale me. Well, these practically daily threats of thunderstorms are cutting into plans for more epic hikes but they are coming.  So too is more reliable weather.