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Inga Aksamit and Will E Cronan I was in the 7/19 storm also (like Will) -- at about 9000 feet elevation north of Donohue (Ireland Creek Junction) and hunkered down. Decided to take a zero day to ride it out since T'storm probability in my area was 86% on the morning wx2inReach report and I was just in to acclimate in anticipation of a 10-day hike with daughter Jess. Pro note: for more about Jess, see https://www.globenewswire.com/.../Multiplying-Good...
I talked the next day to a number of folks who were caught at or near the top of Donohue Pass. They said it came on very quickly (not uncommon). They found it hard to get down because accumulated hailstones obscured much of the trail. Much of the visible trail was soon flowing like a river. Simple rock hop stream crossings turned treacherous.
As the storm started, I was in a shelter (rain fly and ground sheet only but the combination works well if properly staked). I was happy as a clam and feeling smart for having hunkered down. Until a mud flow started to flow over my ground sheet -- despite very careful selection of the tent pad least likely to flood. Big storm. In probably 250-300 nights in the Sierra, I can only recall 2 that were worse for me personally (worst at Minaret Lake 4am, second worst just south of Ebbets Pass about 3pm).
On July 28, Jess and I were caught just south of Squaw Lake in a nasty storm. We took the shelter in a grove of similar sized trees and actually kind of enjoyed it. Jess's first experience with a Sierra Nevada classic storm. We dried out at Papoose Lake (on way to the Cascade Shelf, the west side of the Creek drainage). Encountered two folks with llamas and it turned out I had exchanged emails in the past with the woman in the couple. Jess loved the llamas. We started out toward cascade Shelf feeling good about things -- and then a second storm started, not as intense but fairly heavy. No lightning risk where we were (headed from Lake of the Lone Indian to Wilber Mae Lake junction) but pretty wet and cold. At first sunshine we stopped to dry out, Jess discovers that her compression dry sack had leaked. It held only one thing. Unfortunately, the one thing was her down bag. She became the human clothes drier, standing on a sunny boulder shaking her bag to quicken its recovery. Other than a sodden area at the foot it actually recovered pretty well.
As continued bad weather was predicted we scrubbed a plan to fish at high elevation Lakes (Peter Pande, Anne and Beetlebug) and decided to head for Iva Bell. Arrived there by about noon 2 days later and stayed there 2 nights. The predicted rain did not occur (other than brief sprinkles) but we enjoyed the baths and spent some time cleaning the two lower ones as best we could. Somebody should bring back a stiff brush to Iva Bell - the one there years ago has disappeared.
