More great pictures of a great hike.
Those pictures of the standing water around your tent reminded me of a trip in ’83 where I had to set up camp in the dark. I was near Mobile Alabama and had been driving through a rain storm between Port Arthur, along the coast, to east of New Orleans.
If you’ve never driven in a rain storm near the Gulf Coast it’s an experience you should at least try. It was coming down so hard the wipers had zero effect. The rain covered the windshield behind them as fast as they pushed the water ahead of them. I couldn’t see 50 ft. I pulled over on the I-10 and was waiting in my little gray Mazda RX-7 for it to slack off. A little sports car and the color blended in with rain. The 18-wheelers were blasting past me so close I got nervous about them not seeing me till it was too late so I got back on the road.
Eventually I left the storm behind and late that night got to Mobile. In the dark I had picked a spot without noticing what surrounded me. I was in a shallow area that drained the upper part of the campground near a picnic awning. I got everything set up and went to sleep. Sometime around two in the morning, the storm caught up with me. Without the convenience of The Weather Channel or smart phones, I hadn’t known the storm was headed east.
As it started in with some serious rain, I unzipped my tent and saw that about 2 inches of water was flowing around me. I was right in the middle of it the flow.
Without getting dressed I immediately began pulling my stuff out of the tent and piling it up on the picnic tables under the awning. I was using a small, free standing hex 2 man tent. After it was empty I grabbed it and ran to the tables. I waited there in my underwear in the dark for the rain to stop. At least it was summer and the rain was warm.
Duane
