Date: 2022-05-24
From: Calf Mountain Shelter 

To: Sawmill Run Overlook 
Miles today: 2.78
Weather: clear sky

Calf Mountain Shelter to Sawmill Run Overlook Well. I learned a valuable lesson last night about tenting in National Parks and about backpacking in general. In Shenandoah National Park if you stay by a shelter and want to sleep in your tent (or have to because the shelter is full), you have to pitch your tent on one of the tent pads. Generally, these are nice squares where Park Service employees have removed all the grass, leaves, stones, brambles and whatever else would be growing there and then leveled it off so you have a nice flat clean surface on which to pitch your tent. They then put boards on 3 or 4 sides to separate the space from the rest of the shelter area. Last night by the time I arrived at the shelter it was full. The people already in the shelter said they would shove over and I could squeeze in but then everyone would have been uncomfortable so I decided to sleep in my tent. There was a guy in a hammock and another person in a tent further away from me. Well, it rained all night, not a hard rain but a steady rain, and because of the boards around the tent pad, the water could not flow down hill and it backed up and flooded my tent. The uphill side of the tent pad had no board so the water flowed right down hill.  Because of the boards on the remaining 3 sides the water was essentially funneled to my tent and the board on the downhill side acted as a dam. I woke up about 4:15 AM and put my hand on the tent floor off of my sleeping pad and discovered about a half inch of water. Everything got soaked and was very dirty from muddy water. I had some clothes in a trash compactor bag, but they were mainly socks and a hat. My sleeping clothes were basically dry because I was on the sleeping pad but the bottom of my sleeping bag was hanging over the end of the pad and the bottom third was pretty wet. It¢s a light down sleeping bag so I knew wet down was not a good thing. I had stretched out the clothes I had the previous day - essentially my one set of hiking clothes - over top of my pack but they were completely soaked. My tent was covered in mud. So at 6 AM I started texting shuttle drivers to see if anyone could help me. On the third try I found someone and got picked up around 9:45 after hiking only 2.78 miles and dropped back off at the Holiday Inn in Waynesboro.  I did two loads of laundry and took everything else into the shower with me so I could clean it up. I then put everything up in my hotel room and dried everything off and I am ready to go back to the trail tomorrow.  I put my sleeping bag in the dryer on low after wiping it down and it turned out better than I thought it might. I am getting picked up tomorrow morning between 7 and 8. I got some pictures of my tent after everything was removed and of the tent pad. By the time I took the tent pictures the rain had slowed and it doesn¢t look as deep as it was earlier. I also got some pictures of the flowers blooming along the trail. Even though it is raining it still beautiful on the trail. I have slept on these tent pads before and never had a problem. The first time it even rained but it was very light. On Saturday night I stealth camped and there was a big thunderstorm but the water never accumulated, so no problem.  I understand why they have the pads. By forcing everyone to tent in prearranged spots they limit the environmental impact of people tenting all over the place. I think I will try to stealth camp when I can. Stealth camping is permitted in Shenandoah National Park but they have conditions about how far you have to be from a water source and 3-4 other requirements, all of which make sense and, in general, are easy to follow.