I noticed on my facebook page today that there were quite a number of people complaining about the several days of rain we have had here in November 2011. Therefore I almost had to aggravate them all by putting up that I like hiking in the cold November rain.
I do actually love hiking in the rain, it was not just an empty aggravation. The most obvious reason is that I almost always have the place to myself (see comments above regarding complaints about rain). "Who in their right mind would go out in the rain?" Well,....either my mind is not right, or the answer to the question is me.
I remember many years ago, my family and I made a commitment to one another that we would spend time in the outdoors every weekend, rain or shine, hot or cold, busy or not busy for an entire year. And we did exactly that, no matter what the weather, we went out in it and hiked, had picnic, swims, rock throwing competitions. As I have said before, nature has a way of offering things for free that you cannot buy anywhere. I could not list the benefits that year offered us as individuals and as a family unit. Not the least of which, is that we now know that walking in the rain and getting wet, has a lot more flair to it than running in the rain, trying not to get wet, and getting wet anyway.
Most critters out there will wait out a rain, while at the same time, some critters will get up and move about because of the concealment that is provided by the rain. So there is still lots of interesting stuff to see and be part of.
I guess for me personally, it is a challenge taken on by not many. The martial artist and survivalist in me wants to be prepared for the worse. I train and teach others for self-defense situations, that may never occur. I train in and teach others how to survive in the wilderness, for situations that hopefully will never occur. All this training, and hiking in the rain, is there to help me grow as a person, to learn how to live with adversity and deal with it and not avoid it.
For my Aikido friends out there, it is like irimi, where when an attack is imminent and you enter in to it. For my Christian brothers and sisters out there, it is a lot like Christ the Messiah, going out to, the authorities that came to take him away to be crucified. He could have easily hidden and run. For my nature friends out there, it is like hiking in the rain, you know exactly what I mean don't you?
