Date: 2007-08-26
From: Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to 2126.3

To: Rainbow Springs Campsite 2148.3 
Miles today: 22.0

About Last Night.No sooner had I set up my tarp, eaten my dinner and climbed into my sleeping bag when a large and persistent thunder storm rolled up from the valley. I had arrived at the nearby shelter only to find four women stretched out on their sleeping pads and chatting away. Not wishing to intrude into their slice of heaven and seeking a little privacy for myself I was confident I would sleep better off by myself. I was just a bit miffed, as I always am when a group takes over a shelter, spreads themselves out and does not consider the worthy thru hiker. (tisk-tisk John-knee-mud... assert yourself or be happy).The first few vollies of lightning had hardly sounded when my tarp's underpinnings let go and the tarp fell down on top of me. I quickly found I could stay dry by manually holding the end pole in place while grasping and pulling down on the tarp. The wind was now blowing so hard that everything under the slumping tarp was getting wet, including my goosedown sleeping bag. I was in trouble. If everything got wet there would be no sleep for me, even if I ran over to the shelter and put myself at the mercy of those high and dry under its tin roof. Then I noticed that staying dry was going to be even harder than I had thought; the tent pad where I had erected my tarp, that was comprised of gravel and not holding my tent stakes, was not draining. The rain was forming a big puddle beneath me and it was just a matter of time before I would be adrift upon an unkind sea. The worst was still yet to come, with lightning exploding right over my head I could quickly see I had made myself ! an excellent conductor and was in real danger of being electrocuted. I had to act but none of the choices were good. If I let go of the aluminum pole I held in my hand the tarp would fall in on me again. If I went out to try to retie the ropes I would get my only dry clothes soaked. The lightning was not giving me any options, I had to let go of the lightning rod I was holding and get out of the puddle I was sitting in. I held the tarp down with my foot and with my one free hand stuffed my sleeping bag into the most water tight bag I had. Then I stripped off my polar fleece while holding the end pole with my other foot. While holding the pole upright, now with my hand I got out from under the tarp, wearing only my nylon wind pants. It felt as though someone was in the trees and dumping buckets of water on me. Try as I may, the tent stake would not hold the rain soaked tarp. I tied the line to a small sappling instead and it held. Now the tarp was up but there were still stakes that were not holding, there was a real danger the whole thing would colapse again since the water was staying atop the tarp and was forming into lakes that strained every rope and every stake.  I tied the back corner of the tarp to another tree, reinserted all the stakes and then began to feverishly scoop dirt away from the corners of the frame that comprised the tent pad. Slowly the water drained and when I dug underneath the frame I found small rocks that had clogged the natural route for the water to go. Finaly, I started to work on the pitch of thre tarp's roof so the rain would not collect. Once the tarp was standing on its own and the rain was draining around the frame of logs beneath I collapsed inside onto my foam sleeping pad. I was soaked and I was shivering. The storm wasn't fifteen minutes old and it had already gotten the best of me and my 12 ounce tarp. I took off my nylon pants and put on my polar fleece, I was afraid to look at my sleeping bag. The wind still whipped moist air and rain beneath the tarp but I was no longer sitting in a puddle while grasping a metal pole. I brought my knees up to my chest and waited for the storm to move on.John-Knee-MudJohn-Knee-Mud