I’ve been working hard on reducing my pack weight over the last year and this trip was my best effort to date. Overnight gear, clothes, food, 2 liters of water, and 10lbs of camera gear for a total of 32lbs. Usually I’m pushing the 40′s with all the junk I haul around so my pack felt super light and I blasted up the trail and soon found myself alone in the upper basin. With lightning in the forecast I really wanted a good campsite away from trees and wide open spaces. I couldn’t find any sites like this in the upper basin so I decided to summit with my pack then descend to emerald lake to set up camp later.

I saw one hiker and a few mountain goats between the saddle and summit. I spent about 10min on top getting my shots and watching the goats then started my hike back down. Once I reached the saddle the lightning started to strike off in the west desert. I set up my gear and took a series of photos and captured nearly 50 strikes in just 12min. I made a few phone calls and checked the latest weather animations on my phone and the storm was headed right for me. At that point I had the choice of hiking down to emerald lake to set up camp before to the storm hit or bail. As I pondering this lighting started to fire off over the Heber Valley to the east, then the cottonwoods to the north. At this pointed I caved and decided to give up and get off the mountain. By the time I reached the edge of the upper basin lighting was 360° around me but still a ways off. I picked up the pace and started running down the trail.

About half way down the large switch back and talus slope I came across a group of hikers also descending off the mountain and one of them had a knee injury. They had already contacted Search and Rescue and were slowing making their way down the trail waiting for SAR to come up to them.

The next 2 hours were amazing with pouring rain, lighting, and echoing thunder. At times I felt like I was running in a strobe light. I reached the Timpooneke trail head soaked to the bone and completely exhausted. I spoke with search and rescue and let them know exactly where I had last seen the people they were looking for. They were not headed up the trail until the lighting calmed down.
As I got changed out of my wet clothes lightning was streaking across the sky in every direction and hitting the summit ridges all over the canyon. I got in the car and took one last shot out my window. I used my 11mm lens that has a 110 degree angle and captured an eye level that reached both edges of the frame… time to go home.