So we headed back up to the top of the Tejas trail, where the tree cover was not as thick, and there was a lot of sun and wind to dry things out. On the second trip we packed everything in waterproof bags. It took us two hours to get back to the top, and another two hours for things to dry out. We realized that the storm had exhausted us, so we decided to cut the hike short and head back to the trailhead. On the way down, we met rangers several times who were on their way up to check for storm damage and survivors.
People do die up there.
Next time we won't treat the rain so casually. We were deceived by the warmth of the early afternoon air and the strong sun, and were actually looking forward to a little rain to cool things off. After all, it was July. On the second trip, it rained quite hard during the night in the base camp, and we were expecting running water the next day on the mountain. We cleaned up and had something to eat at the trailhead, then began the drive to our next camp in the Monahans sand dunes.