It’s been a while since Rainbow, Right Turn, and myself all hiked together. Schedules finally aligned, and we planned to hike Blueberry Mountain. Right Turn would be bringing a friend (Kate), and we planned to meet at the trailhead at 9AM.

A few logistical notes. One, the forest website said the road to the trailhead was closed, but several reports had said it was open. Happily, it was open, so we were able to park right at the trailhead. Two, using Alltrails to “get directions”, Google maps indicated the trailhead was much sooner on the road than it actually was. If you use AllTrails and Google, keep going on the road until you see a parking area/pull off and a sign for “Blueberry Mountain Trail” trailhead.

We set off on the trail at 9:37 AM.

The forecast showed cloudy, with slight chance of light rain. As you can see in our trailhead selfie, it started off dry.

The hike is a nice, gradual hike through the forest to start. Right Turn, Rainbow, and I had a great time catching up, as well as getting to know Kate and her pup Maisie. It started to sprinkle. I started to get a migraine (a more and more frequent occurrence lately), so we stopped for me to take some meds. Then it started to rain, and get windy. Of course it got worse just as we were on the open (exposed) granite slabs. We donned rain gear.

At one point, there was a bit that I leaned over to use my hands to help with the step up, partly because it was a big step up and partly because it was rainy and wet and I didn’t want to slip. I was using a new version of a pack that I’ve had for years. There are minor differences with the new version. Apparently one of them, is that the side pockets aren’t as tight or as deep as the old ones. So my water bottles weren’t as secure as they were in the old pack. As I bent over to use my hands on the rock, my one liter water bottle (which weighs about 2.5 pounds) slid out and landed cap edge right on my finger, just above the knuckle. I let out a string of expletives. It hurt.

It had a red spot that seemed to be under the skin and had a bump.

Rainbow asked if I wanted to continue or go back, and graciously offered to return with me. We were very close to the summit, and it was my finger, not a leg, so I sucked it up and kept going. However, as we kept going, I’d look at my finger and it continued to get worse. Not like I’m going to die worse, but concerning. It bled a bit. And the part that is swollen in the above right photo puffed up even higher. That section of my finger resembled a rectangle about twice the thickness of my normal finger. However, returning to the car wouldn’t really have helped any more than continuing, so we kept going.

We were rewarded with a slight view just before the summit and could see a break in the clouds.

Then we were at the summit.

The image on the left would be a view of Mt. Moosilaukee, if you could see through the clouds.

My thrilled to be here summit selfie. And the nicer group photo that Right Turn took.

It was a bit windy at the summit, so we climbed back down some to find a more sheltered spot for a quick snack. After that we continued our descent back to the cars. Maisie and Kate went ahead a bit as Maisie had a bit more energy than the rest of us, I think.

At one point, we ran into two mountain bikers, which was very unusual for me to see. They seemed as thrilled as we were about the weather, but otherwise nice. They stopped and wait for us to pass before they continued their ascent. I’d actually be really interested to see how they fared on the granite slabs going up. They turned out to be the only people we saw on the trail.

The rain would never stop me from taking at least one mushroom photo.

As we entered the trees again, the rain slackened off. I kept wanting to take off my rain poncho, but then the wind would shake the trees and they’d dump off a bunch of rain, so I kept it on. Eventually I was able to take it off.

Back to the trailhead for our finish selfie.

Kate had gotten back to the cars a few minutes ahead of us and had changed. We all changed and stopped in at The Last Chair. That meant I could count this hike for the Views and Brews patch! I’m at #14 of the required 30. While I visit plenty of breweries, I need to better align my hike days with my visits to make them count!

A migraine, a smashed finger, and rainy slabs aren’t my ideas of a great hike. I really lived up to my trail name on this one, apologizing every 5 minutes it seemed. This was a harder day than I had planned and expected, but it was sooooo nice to hike with both Rainbow and Right Turn again. And to meet Kate (and Maisie)!

• Distance: 3.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 1,043 feet
• Total time: 2 hours, 48 minutes (it’s amazing how much faster you go when it’s rainy and cold)
• Moving time: 2 hours, 17 minutes (and how much less you stop)

Bonus update photo of my finger three days later: