Got caught in a freak hailstorm on the John Muir Trail near Evolution Lake last August and it wrecked my tent in 10 minutes flat

I was about 2 miles past Evolution Lake heading southbound when the sky just turned this weird greenish gray. Thought I could outrun it but nope. Hail came down so hard and fast I barely got my tent up before it started pelting. Ended up with three rips in the rainfly and a bent pole that made the whole thing sag. Spent the night huddled under a tarp I always carry as backup. That storm made me switch from a cheap three-season tent to something way beefier for Sierra trips. Has anyone else had to patch up gear mid-trail during a surprise storm?

3 comments

3 Comments

perry.jesse19d ago

Evolution Lake is actually past Muir Pass if you're heading southbound, so you would have been coming from the north. But yeah, that green sky thing is no joke, I've seen it twice in the Sierras and both times it meant trouble fast.

the_betty19d ago

Oh yeah "both times it meant trouble fast" - that's the kind of guarantee nobody wants. I swear every time I've seen that weird green sky out there it's like the universe saying "hey you better start booking it right now." The first time I just stood there like an idiot taking pictures. Learned my lesson real quick when the hail came down hard enough to bruise. Now I just see green and my brain goes straight to "okay where's the nearest tree or rock to hide under." It's like the sky is trolling us at that point.

sullivan.quinn18d ago

Is it possible that green sky actually looks different depending on what altitude you're at? I've only seen it a couple times myself, once down around 5000 feet in the foothills and once up near 10,000 on a backpacking trip. The one at higher elevation had this weird yellow tint mixed in, not just green, and the storm that hit was way more lightning than hail. Maybe the color shifts with how much moisture is in the air at different levels or something. Your mileage may vary, but it's made me wonder if the green means the same thing everywhere.