I love the rain, any foul weather in fact. Sure, you get wet. Sometimes you get cold.  Sometimes you can hardly hold your eyes open.  Still, that’s the price of often dream-like landscapes and what can be a very sensual connection to our planet.  Rain, wind, and even snowstorms are often like fire alarms for me to get outside either on the trails or on the water.   What truly amazed me recently is when we were experiencing our first real rain after days and days of hot muggy weather and the trails… were empty.  

I know most people don’t seem to like the rain these days. Like snow and wind, rain is only seen as an inconvenience. Many us spend all of our time moving through artificial environments that are never too cold, too hot or too humid, only dealing with nature long enough to move from one regulated environment to the next. Many of us who are living a modern urban experience have sadly lost touch with the whims of nature. It’s just a fact. Still, you’d think that after what seems like a never-ending string of insufferably oppressive heat and humidity, more people would have leapt at the chance to get out and let a cool rain and heavy fog envelop them.

Yet, there I was, mid-day, walking the veiled trails of one of the Great Lakes region’s most popular parks… alone.  Master of  a fog-filled, mystical, damp universe… Derrick Mayoleth.. Rain King.