Pic: Slime mold with fruiting bodies; neither plant nor fungus, slime molds are weird Communist collectives of single-celled organisms. Goodwin Lake Trail, Bridger-Teton NF, WY
Things that are unnerving:
- Waking up in the middle of the night to lightning, thunder, rain, and wind. How long has it been raining? How saturated is the ground? How far away from those three huge pine trees did I set up the tent??
- Waking up in the middle of the night to every coyote in the valley howling at each other simultaneously. How many coyotes could I fight off while wrapped in a sleeping bag??
With the help of some mobile signal and MyRadar, I found a relatively dry-looking window in the day’s thundershowers. I took my pizza-bagel-under-a-tree break a little early when, fifteen minutes into the hike, the showers escalated to actual rain and hail for fifteen minutes. After that first half-hour, I had calm weather for the rest of the climb to Goodwin Lake.
Pic: It was good, hikin’ to you, a-ha. Goodwin Lake, Bridger-Teton NF, WY
Things that hurry you back down the hill to the parking lot:
- When you see lightning and only count four Mississippis before you hear thunder.
Danger Beyond This Point 