It seemed like a good idea at first

So yesterday Hubby and I went for a hike. Without the kids, there didn't seem to be a reason to attend the parade, small carnival or fireworks. We were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves so we decided to spend the day secluded in the mountains. We packed our backpacks will all the necessities plus a few things we didn't think we would need but you never know. One of those items was a raincoat for each of us.
We hiked for three hours up the canyon stopping on occasion to catch our breath or eat something. We were attempting to find a lake that was supposed to be at the top of the canyon. When we got to the top of the canyon, there was a sheer rock face with a beautiful waterfall. We were trying to decide if we were tired enough to turn back or if we wanted to go ahead and keep going over the rocks in hopes that the lake was there. The weather quickly decided for us. We were in a stand of trees when the thunder and lightning started. We turned around and started down. It was apparent we were going to need the raincoats so we stopped and put them on just as the rain started. We kept on traveling keeping an eye out for a rock overhang we could sit under just in case things got worse.
Things got worse. Soon the rain turned to hail. We found a shallow rock overhang that protected us from the ice, but poured water over us and quickly soaked our pants and shoes. We decided that wasn't a good idea and ran down the trail looking for something better. Soon the hail got BIG and I know we have a few bruises from it today. The average ball of ice was the size of a marble but some were bigger. Hubby and I were running as fast as we dared down the now slippery trail. Our poor dog was whining and yelping running as close to us as he could hoping we could protect him from the hail. We never did find anywhere to get out of the weather and just decided to get down the mountain as quickly as possible.
What took us 3 hours to hike on the way up, we traveled in one hour on the way down. 30 minutes of this we were pelted relentlessly with giant hailstones. The rest of the way we were walking through cold, icy slush that had formed on the trail. We ran along side the trail as much as possible but there were places we had no choice. Half way down the mountain we stopped to wash the rocks and mud out of our shoes and for Hubby to wring out his socks. By this time my feet were bleeding from wearing my wet sandals.
When we were almost back to the trailhead, I slipped and muttered a calm "Oh s%#*" as I tumbled head first into a wild rose bush. Hubby gave me a hand and we made our way, wet and cold to the jeep.
What started out as a nice hike turned into a real problem really fast. If we hadn't had our raincoats, we would have been in real trouble.