Day Hike - Squak Mountain/Bullitt Fireplace Access

SO FUN. Escaped the rain in Seattle after-work for a quick jaunt up Squak via Bullitt FP trail. No discover pass needed at this TH but make sure you adhere the speed limit in the neighborhood as the winding mountain roads offer limited site visibility and there can be people roadbiking up these crazy hills! Took Bullitt FP Trail, some blowdowns, pretty damp with some water running down the center of the trail due to recent torrential downpour, but overall, trail was in great shape and well-signed. The fog rolled in and it began raining about 1/4 mile from the Fireplace. We were actually hoping to enjoy our graham cracker and chocolate uncooked "smores" at the fireplace but the weather wasn't conducive to doing so, in fact, it started hailing. Small pellets at first, then becoming as large as marbles while we bent over trying to shield ourselves from the golf balls raining on us from the heavens. And every break in the downpour I tried to get my rain jacket from my pack, but then we would hear the hail coming again from behind the fireplace and get completely pummelled again, which led to me just putting my backpack on my head to hide from the weather. This happened about 3 times and by this point we were just doubled over in laughter about the situation. #backpackhairdon'tcare we were SOAKED. Then it stopped and we headed up to the summit of SQUAK, where the radio towers are, and, lo and behold, the sun broke through the clouds and the fog rolled away, birds chirping, bunny (yes, we saw a bunny) obliviously munching on foliage at the end of the trail. You would have thought it was the Capitol from the Hunger Games housed in the creepy shed by the communication towers, creating this weird weather phenomenon, trying to get us off the mountain, since we were the only group headed up on a rainy Friday evening. Well, we showed them! Sunshine and rainbows followed us down a trail flooded by water and dotted with hail chips, then we enjoyed a well-deserved beer and warm soft pretzels at Rogue brewery in Issaquah (while fully bundled up and drying out) on the way home.