The night before I took these photos I was parked in the rain at a completely different trailhead. Unbeknownst to me, that trail had recently closed due to fire damage, and I had all but a few hours before sunset to make it somewhere else. Deciding not to waste any precious summer days, I rushed to another trailhead up the road to hike partly in the dark, and mostly in the rain. I've found over the years that when the odds seem to stack up against you, there's often something special waiting on the other side.