We had the whole day planned. Just the couple, an officiant, and me. A picnic at the top with wine and food. Everything dialed in.
About halfway up the drive, the sky opened. Hard rain, then lightning. Two things you absolutely don't want at Max Patch, because Max Patch is a 4,629-foot bald with nothing taller than the grass. Nobody goes to the top with lightning around. But we kept driving toward the trailhead anyway, because mountain weather here turns on a dime.
We got to the parking lot and the storms cleared out. By the time we made it to the top, the sky was throwing every color it owns. Purples, blues, oranges. The clouds had dropped low over the surrounding ridges but never quite touched ground, so we were standing above what looked like the start of a cloud inversion. Sun rays were cutting through onto the peaks. Then a rainbow.
It's some of the most amazing scenery I've ever stood in at Max Patch. The couple got photos that don't look real. I shot the elopement, then I sat down and just watched it for a while.
The point of telling this: if the forecast looks borderline on a Max Patch or Black Balsam day, don't cancel. Drive toward the location. If lightning is actively in the area we don't summit, but conditions here change fast and the moodiest days produce the photos couples frame in their living room a decade later. We've shot through fog, rain, snow, and ridge wind. We've never had to scrap a day.
