Breaking Camp

My oldest daughter and I where at Wheeler Peak CG at Great Basin NP. We broke camp and drove 148 miles in 6 hours via Pine Valley Road to Kolob Road near Cedar City, UT. It was dark when and we selected our car camp spot. We went to pitch the tent, Roh, Roh! no tent poles. Subsequently drove back to GBNP, this time on paved road, up to the campground and retrieved the poles. Doh!

A decade ago had backpacked off trail from the west end of Thousand Island Lake over the easy ridge into the Garnet Lake basin and then over the ridge into Nydiver Lakes. The whole time weather had been threatening. Later during the night in the wee hours more serious thunderstorms moved in. I was tentless just bringing an old OR Gortex Basic Bivy sack that I knew had been leaking. The lakes area is a small glaciated granite bedrock bench close to 13k+ Mount Ritter with few trees.

http://    mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.69194,-119.17166&z=15&t=T

I set up in a spot lightning was unlikely between the upper two lakes, where any water would not flow, and used a small blue plastic tarp to wrap around the bivy in order to reduce chances of leaking. It rained and rained and rained for some hours with minor lightning and thunder.  Each time I woke, checked for leaks. Well leaking began and when such happens gravity pulling down water that has been wicking through small holes will continue to draw more water. A bivy sack is a small difficult enclosure to deal with leaks in and after an hour with water coming in at multiple places mostly at seams decided the wise choice was to escape at the first chance a lull occurred.

That was a long sleepless 2 hour wait till about 4:30am at earliest dawn. I knew another band of rain would likely follow the lull so had to pack up as fast as possible. Thus during the hour before leaving had played out the scenario in my mind as to how I would stuff all the gear in my bulging pack and that included a lot of 4x5 camera gear. Of course breaking camp packing up while raining, exposes gear to getting wet. The most important item to keep dry is always one's down sleeping bag. Before exiting I had soaked up leakage inside the bivy as best I could with a cotton t-shirt and would stuff sleeping bag inside the bivy as one into the lower compartment on my pack instead of separating the two since the bivy provides some protection. I also decided I would hand carry my view camera on the big tripod instead of stuffing it into my big camera daypack that would allow for more space inside my pack so I could jam it all in quickly.   I tend to hand carry my cameras atop tripods while wearing a backpack quite often so that was an easy strategy.  Much of the gear was already in the pack but in a disorganized mess. My disassembled cook set and utensils would just be tossed in as is. While still inside had the fun of putting on my as yet dry rain pants and rain jacket.

Recall after pulling the trigger, getting out, it immediately went from light sprinkles to heavier sprinkles then rain.  The first task was getting my boots on. Of course in the dark had my bright Fenix headlamp on but still working with gear in the dark during rain is awkward. More ominous lightning began flashing in the distance over Volcanic Ridge not far to the south so I would need to quickly hike across an exposed lakeside slippery wet landscape to the end of the lower lake about a half mile away before dropping down a steep use route into forest where I would be safe.

Didn't bother to look at my watch as to how quickly it took to get all the gear in my pack but do recall it had all gone quickly as expected before securing the pack rain cover except to open it up once to grab some item. The sprinkles had picked up to light rain. As someone that has traveled cross country in such landscapes for decades including much night hiking, can move at good speed even by flashlight. The lightning was closing in as I dropped off the bench and found my way down into the forest. Soon rain became heavier so I found some dense pines to temporarily hide beneath for a half hour. As sunrise approached was on my way below to Shadow Creek. When showers were heavy I stopped under trees and when not moved forward. Eventually reached the creek, stashed gear beneath some dense tress then explored about the densely forested creek side canyon bottom for a good dry spot to hole up for a day and reorganize. Usually the best cover during rain is within dense mountain hemlock groves where several trees grow out of a common root area. Found a very uneven though dry spot in the center of some such trunks, laid down the bivy directly on the dry tree debris duff matter and fully covered the top with the blue plastic tarp.  As more rain came down got some needed sleep,   Later that morning rain became more showery, got out, and began drying gear out on ropes strung up between trees. By early afternoon much was dry, storm moved out, and I moved up to nearby Ediza Lake.

David
www.davidsenesac.com/2015_Trip_Chronicles/2015_Trip-Chronicles-0.html

From a Few years ago, my college roommates & I (and wives) have an annual canoe float. Lots of beer, fishing, burning bratwursts over the fire. Far from backpacking, but a good time.

Wake up early to the distant sound of what could be thunder. Can't be, forecast was for perfect weather all weekend (and it had been). Seems kinda dark for 6:30am. Find my phone, look at the radar and see we're about 20 minutes away from the most wicked line of storms I've seen on a radar. Just a line of solid red radar, BIG bow echo stretching north to south across the state.

Wake the wife up, say we gotta go NOW. Give a few warning shouts to everyone we need to pack & quick, it's gonna get wet & blowy real quick. Few slow rustles followed by eruption of activity, with lots of "holy crap" as everyone else gets a look at their phone.

We all pick up the empty beer cans, throw everything in the vehicles. I'm tightening the last strap on my canoe in my pickup as the rain unleashed. In the time to finish the ratchet strap and jump into my truck, my shirt is totally soaked. Just dumped. We all go our separate ways.

That was August 2019, most of them I haven't seen since. Damn you Covid.

Late Summer 2003, my brother and I were camping on the Stillwater Plateau (at maybe 11,500ft) in the Beartooth Mountains (Montana). It was a lovely evening, if a bit smoky. My brother elected to sleep outside the tent and I spread out my stuff inside. I was awakened in the wee hours by a gust of wind that lifted me off the ground and temporarily collapsed the tent. A minute or two later my brother piled into the tent and we spent the rest of the night being tossed about as the gusts hit us. Thankfully the tent survived. Around dawn, the wind died down enough to allow us to pack up and head back. Since then I've had quite a few windy nights in the Beartooth, but that was the introduction.

This photo was the calm evening before the wind started:

My new word for the day.