We were also on the mountain yesterday. We left at 4:00AM and made good time up to Trail Crest. Shortly after leaving Trail Crest we noticed some hail dropping but since this was my first attempt we decided to push on to the top thinking the storm would move away. By the time we reached the summit the hail was pounding us and starting to obliterate the trail. We signed the register, took three photos, put on out parkas and headed down in a hurry. We left the summit at 12:15 and there were still people coming up. We tried to discourage them but some wouldn't listen. I am still wondering about a man and woman who had two small children(4 or 5 years old) insisting on making it to the top. The children had shorts, sweat shirts and tennis shoes on. There is no way they made it down the mountain last night. We were pummeled by hail all the way to the Portal but we knew we had to get off the mountain. The lightning strikes were close and the thunder deafening. We saw three land slides that were awsome but unnerving. Rocks the size of Volkswagons bouncing down the hills. At Outpost Camp three campers asked if they could follow us down the trail because they were scared. We told them OK but we weren't going to wait for them to pack up. They said they were leaving everything they just wanted out. The camper staid with us for about 20 minutes but decided we weren't going fast enough and left running down the trail. The lower we got the more water we encountered, most of the trail was now a running stream and the crossings we hopped across in the morning were running 50 ft. across. We forded dangerous streams running waist deep something I would never do under normal circumstances. When we got to the crossing at Lone Pine Creek there were two men blocking off the trail and diverting people to the old trail as that creek was impassible. We got to the parking lot at 6:30 and several sections of the road were washed out, no cheeseburger. We got to the campground and were changing into dry clothes when the camp host knocked on my tent trailer door and informed us that the campground was being evacuated, several bridges were already washed out. By the time we made it down the hill Caltrans was closing the road just out of Lone Pine. All the motels were full in Lone Pine so it was a long drive home after all the excitement. I would still like to know how many people stayed on the mountain last night and how many are OK. The thought of those two children still haunts me.
