How could cold weather and rain make for the perfect backpacking trip? No sweat, no bugs, good timeing. T'was raining when we set the shuttle and started walking Sat. morning. Fortunatly it soon stopped and the sun quickly came out to dry up the forest floor. By lunch time the logs at one of the camp sites were dry enough to sit on. By doing the 20.5 miles in 3 days instead of the usual two, the pace was brisk but not hurried. We took plenty of breaks and arrived at camp early enough to relax and gather plenty of firewood for the evening. Saturday evening Smoky and Chuck treated those so inclined to happy hour.We had walked in the day before and put beer in the creek to cool. A passing hiker told us that our planned camp site was full of Cub Scouts. Those Scouts were going to earn an ass kicking merit badge if they had stole my beer. The hiker was pullin' our leg as we shared no camp sites this trip. Sunday morning left a few campers a bit on the cool side, many donning extra clothes during the night. Breakfast by the camp fire left everyone cheerful as we broke camp and headed out. Second nights camp was especially pretty, set among the Mountian Larual by Spencer Creek. Another large campfire kept everythhing toasty, that was facing the fire. Campers periodicaly would throw another log on the fire and warm their backside before resumming their repose. The rain came late Monday morning, while campers were snug in their tents and tarps. As luck would have it the rain stopped by 8:00 and the skys quickly cleared. We had to pack up wet tents but not get wet doing it. Kudos to Julieta, a first time backpacker and Betsy an second timer. I heard no camplaints and only cheery banter the whole trip.John, Wayne, Bennet, Chuck, Sharon and Smoky made up the rest of the troopers. Life is good : )