An unplanned test
So the GF and I finally got some days off together but we were dog sitting for some friends on a month-long vacation in Canada. Rather than give up the idea of the camping trip to Wyoming we'd been thinking about because 110 pound dogs and backpacking tents don't work well together; I opted to dig out the stupidly large 9'x18' Eddie Bauer Target special that I've had lying around in my shed, used once as storage for the 24 hours of Moab in 2006. I had my doubts and it would turn out they were quite well warranted.
Now this was summer on the Medicine Bow, just west of Cheyenne; generally a time of year that's hot, windy and dry, but you know how generalizations go. When we arrived the sky was mostly clear, the weather was into the low 80s, and the forecast for a 30% chance of afternoon thunderstorms looked to be overestimating the odds a bit. When heard that familiar chirp of my Blackberry I was surprised I was in cell range, but even more surprised to see that it was a severe thunderstorm warning for my home, 3+ hours south near Denver (yes, the thought crossed my mind 'sucks to be you, suckers' while I was hiking around with Duke and Suz in shorts and T-shirts). When we turned in for the evening around 10pm, the skies were mostly clear and it was one of those wonderfully warm evenings that make me love summers in the west, but bummed that I was testing the new 0F bags I picked up rather than using my old 25F down bags (opted for the new because, frankly, the old bags could really use a wash, if you know what I mean).
Anyway, about 90 minutes after turning in some drunk yahoos with no muffler on their 20 year old four-banger pickup truck proceed to drive past our campsite at mach 3 desturbing my perfect beauty rest. When the dust settled and the lights went out of view I was lying on my back settling back into my peace as I noticed the tent flickering with heat lighting in the distance. Hmmm, probably just that Denver storm... No more than ten minutes later the distant rumbings could be heard disturbing the peace of the Wyoming landscape. When the first few drops of rain hit the tent I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't find their way in. Heck, as things built up to a pretty good pace, we were still cozy and dry inside our giant nylon mansion.
It was about another ten minutes in when the teeth of the storm appeared. Lightning started flashing like a 1970's disco and the roar of thunder varied from a constant low rumbling to a clap that rumbled the ground beneath our sleeping pads. This was getting a bit interesting. Now came the torrents of rain. OK, scratch that, call it biblical flooding. Now the tent was showing it's true colors. We were being misted and water was starting to come through the seams just above the bathtub floor. We both proceeded to flip the sleeping bags over so the mummy hood were over rather than under our heads so we could keep our heads dry. This went on for a solid 40 minutes before the rain lightened to a gentle drizzle for another 10-20 minutes.
Both of us slept comfortably after the storm passed thanks to the fiberfill bags. OK, I was happy we brought them and not the down bags, but then again, had this been the original trip, we would have had my two-man Northface tent that has never let me down. The next morning I dug out my 8x10' silicone-impregnated tarp that never leaves the car and roped it up over the sleeping portion of the tent. Thankfully, that project was finished before our hike, as the next afternoon we received another storm (despite the forecast's prediction of only a 10% chance of T-storms). This time it wasn't nearly as nasty, but not a drop made it into the tent.
So, no big lessons here other than the stardard pitch that if you purchased that tent from a big-box store, keep your expectations low and never, ever believe a weather forecast that says 10-30% is anything other than a hedge that the guy doesn't have a clue. This was afterall, just car camping. At no point were we miles from the refuge of our steel box. There's no way any sane human being would carry a circus tent like that into the backcountry (steel poles and all, no less). Always back up cheap tents with cheap tarps and you'll avoid a lot of problems. Oh, and I really need to brush up on my firebuilding skills. I was 0 for two building with magnesium alone and resorted to vasolined cotton balls both days. Man I need to get out camping more before the summer is over!
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