August Rain in Angeles National Forest

For many days these slopes have basked in the hot sun all day: this morning there was no sun at all (Photo – Reg Green)

This Has Never Happened to Me Before.

By Reg Green

 Hiking at seven this morning in the Angeles National Forest, I heard a sound I have never heard before at this time of year: the patter of rain on leaves.

It was quite quiet, a slight hiss, and lasted for only a few minutes but was very soothing.

Two reasons combined to keep this experience unique: first, August here almost always has either only a trace of rain or none at all and second because the vegetation on the front range of these mountains is almost entirely scrub, typically with narrow evergreen leaves.

There being no year-round streams, the only broad-leaved trees are in a few sheltered places where rainwater collected in the winter and for the last three or four months have withstood the hot dry conditions sufficiently well to retain some dampness underground.

In deciduous forests, like those on the East Coast, the sound of rain falling on millions of leaves can be thrilling, as Beethoven showed in the storm scene in his Pastoral Symphony. The sound I heard today was gentle and calm, more like a Chopin piano prelude, another mood in these always surprising mountains.

A gully where not all the moisture has dried up gives enough protection for broad-leave vegetation to survive (Photo – Reg Green)