Living in a Rain forest

When you live in a "rain forest," you expect precipitation. But, I don't think I've ever seen so much water gushing down the middle of the trail on Deer Mountain as today.
Looking out the window before I left, I knew it'd be a wet day and so left the camera. (No trying to photograph flowers today). Foggy, raining, and high winds forecast. Really, I never need much excuse to hike, but today was not looking very promising - drizzling, with heavy rain and wind predicted. However, I had promised to accompany my friend Sue up Deer Mountain to meet her husband (as in the previous August post).  I was also itching to get out after spending the previous weekend moving into a new apartment.  The rains hit hard by the time we were about 1.5 miles up the trail. We were surprised (and impressed) to run into 4 raingear-clad cruise ship tourists hiking up as well. I complimented them for getting out in the woods on such a typical Southeast day. And a bit farther along, we met a couple coming down the trail, also ready for the weather and having a good time. We were drenched and getting a bit chilled when we made the Forest Service shelter cabin, which lies just below the Deer Mountain summit. We had a cell phone for Sue's husband to contact us, but no word...Coincidentally, about a minute after we reached the cabin, he walked by, heavily laden after a successful hunt. After a brief break, we all hiked back down together and were struck by the amount of water running down the middle the trail. How it had changed in just the short amount of time we'd been at the cabin! The current rain, coupled with the 2 inches or so we'd had the day before, made for a continual gush obliterating the trail. I kept saying, "I wish I had my camera."  Consequently, after getting down, I drove home, grabbed the camera and drove back to the trailhead. I trotted up the trail maybe 50 yards or so - only far enough for these photos. (If I'd hiked all the way back up, the photos would have been more dramatic as it was really running higher up. But, for comparison, there usually are not rivulets coming off the stairs, nor a stream the width of the trail.)

This stream at the end of the trail is about twice its usual size in this photo.