Got caught in a thunderstorm on the Highline Trail and had to ditch my plan

I was about 8 miles into the Highline Trail in Glacier last June when the sky just opened up. Hail started pounding, lightning was hitting the ridges maybe half a mile away, and I was above treeline with nowhere to hide. I had always told myself I'd push through anything, but that moment I realized being stubborn could get me killed. I turned around and booked it back to the Swiftcurrent trailhead, soaked and shaking but alive. The route I had planned for two days got scrapped in about 20 minutes. Has anyone else had to bail on a route halfway through because of weather? What did you do instead?

3 comments

3 Comments

brooke_murray3d ago

Yeah no kidding, that sounds rough. Did you end up finding any kind of backup plan for that trip or just call the whole thing off?

kai8393d ago

Ended up calling it off and spent the weekend eating my weight in takeout while watching disaster movies about canceled trips. Figured if I couldn't go somewhere, at least I could watch fictional people have an even worse time than me. The backup plan was basically hoping my luggage would somehow develop legs and walk itself to the airport without me. No dice on that one. Now I just tell people the trip was postponed indefinitely for "personal reasons" which really means my wallet screamed for mercy.

the_felix3d ago

Wallet screamed for mercy" - bro i think you're being a little dramatic here lol. Like yeah trips cost money but you're acting like your bank account personally called you and begged you to stay home. Takeout and movies ain't free either unless you're eating gas station hot dogs every day. Honestly sounds like you just didn't want to go that bad in the first place and the whole wallet thing was a convenient excuse. People cancel trips all the time without turning it into some whole dramatic backstory, you know? Its not that deep.