The Mountain Has Its Own Weather

Fall is creeping in.

You can feel it some mornings before the calendar says it should be here. The air is a little cooler. The fog hangs a little differently. The forest feels like it is beginning to turn toward another season.

But in East Tennessee, the transition between seasons is rarely clean.

This morning on Morrell Trail was a good reminder. The trail was already muddy from rain the day before. Fog was settled into the valleys, but the morning itself didn’t feel particularly threatening. I enjoy hiking in fog, so I was happy to see it.

The climb was steady from the beginning, and every so often the trail opened to views across the lake valley. The fog moved through the trees and settled into pockets below me.

Then the weather began to change. The clouds moved closer to the mountain. Eventually, they moved around me. Rain started falling.

At first, it wasn’t a problem. Hiking in a light rain can actually be one of my favorite experiences. The forest gets quiet. The sound of your boots, your breathing, and the rain becomes much more noticeable.

Conditions continued to change.

The trail became slicker. Visibility decreased. The clouds settled onto the mountain, and eventually I could see only about twenty feet ahead of me. The valley that had been visible only minutes earlier disappeared completely.

That was when I turned around. Not because rain meant the hike was over. Because the conditions had changed. There is an important difference.

Fall hiking doesn’t require us to be afraid of changing weather. It does require us to pay attention to it. A forecast can tell you what conditions are expected. It cannot tell you exactly what the mountain will be doing when you get there.

A trailhead can be clear while the ridge is covered in clouds. A morning can begin comfortably and become cold and wet several hours later. A little rain can be enjoyable. A thunderstorm on an exposed mountain is something else entirely.

Sometimes the wisest decision on the trail is simply recognizing that the trail has changed. That may mean adding a layer. It may mean turning around. And sometimes it means admitting that the mountain will still be there tomorrow.