Feel better njredneck.Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr
Feel better njredneck.
Sorry about that.
Didn’t know who it was when I first ran up on you, felt bad about pushing ya out of the woods on that cool drive through the lowlands. Backed off when I realized. The guilt stayed with me almost all the way to Russo’s.
This summer I really need to offer up a 4x4 drive down some of the old turnpikes, logging roads and crossovers between the old towns. The Motorized Access Plan had me back off some of my old routes but as they post more signage and I check with the office, my legal options become more clear. Lots to see like the spots of old hotels on top of “mounts” near old railway stops and the like.
Have sherpas, will travel...
Triangles, it's all about the triangles.
H30º ™
HTA
8.7167º
No need to feel bad. I'm a shoob with no intention of going faster through those slippery mud holes on a path not much wider than my car. It was a cool drive - probably a whole lot different on Sunday.Sorry about that.
DidnÂ’t know who it was when I first ran up on you, felt bad about pushing ya out of the woods on that cool drive through the lowlands. Backed off when I realized. The guilt stayed with me almost all the way to RussoÂ’s.
I'd do that.This summer I really need to offer up a 4x4 drive down some of the old turnpikes, logging roads and crossovers between the old towns. The Motorized Access Plan had me back off some of my old routes but as they post more signage and I check with the office, my legal options become more clear. Lots to see like the spots of old hotels on top of “mounts” near old railway stops and the like.
Thanks to everyone who came out and braved the weather this weekend! Between cold temps the first night, and the monsoon on Saturday, there certainly were challenging conditions, to say the least.
As always, thanks to NJRedneck for helping organize/plan, secure supplies, setup, and cook anything I didn't. Also Ratdog for logistics support, firewood, and supply run(s). SilvrSurfr made sure we had coffee and salsa verde, and others (Stick, Monkey, etc.) supplied some additional wood. Many others helped out with camp work, brought pop-ups, and in general helped to make the weekend work out - so thanks to all of you as well.
Friday was about as expected - after getting there and getting set up, we settled in to hanging out, meeting the new folks, catching up with the older folks, and just relaxing. It got cold (I think the temps dropped to 21˚), but we had a warm fire, the warming tent going, and dinner was consumed with gusto. A few folks had issues with the temps overnight, but all in all no major casualty and we survived.
Breakfast and lunch Saturday were pretty straightforward. There was folks hanging around camp, some people went for walks and explored, corn hole was played, and we got a chance to help tweak a few setups that weren't completely dialed in on Friday night. A few people could only stay one night and packed up, a few new folk arrived and set up, and all was well.
As the day wore on and the impending rain got closer, we set up the pop ups and built a little village (I think we had 7 or 8 in all, plus the HQ tent), set up a tarp a little ways away to cover the smoker, and got the 20 lbs of pork started.
The rest of the night took a turn, and I'm once again reminded that nature/weather is a force to be reckoned with, and not taken lightly ...
Last edited by silentorpheus; 11-26-2018 at 15:31.
The rain started a little while prior to dinner being done. We fared pretty well at first, with our pop up city, and even as it got more intense we were doing okay. The fire was still burning hot, food was put out, and we all settled in to eat (George from LLG joined us for dinner - great to see him out), despite it starting to come down heavy. Earlier most of us went to double check our setups, to make sure we were battened down for the storm - I did also, but I'll now humbly admit that I didn't check close enough. More on that later.
Things were getting hellacious outside, with everything under the pop ups getting wet regardless, due to the winds driving the rain sideways. Virtually nothing stayed dry, despite trying to pack things away a bit. At one point we got word that Y Not's tarp had let loose, and he was soaked out. Eventually we'll get him out in the woods for a full night's sleep - but this was not that trip. At least 1 other packed up and headed out before it got too bad, and many retired to their beds earlier than normal to ride out the weather.
Eventually it was down to just a few of us still lingering in the HQ, keeping the stove going and hoping for a lull in the rain to head to our hammocks. Since it never came, we started to peel off one by one and make a run for bed. Eventually SS, NJRedneck, Monkey, Fallkniven, and I were all that was left. SS and NJR headed out, and I followed soon after.
It was coming down so hard that even the short run to where I was hanging left me drenched. I got under my tarp, and started to get oriented. The rain had splashed under my tarp leaving things on the ground wet, but not completely soaked, so I was doing alright. I peeled back my top quilt to get things sorted ... and felt wetness. Investigating further, I found that water had travelled down my head end, under my pillow, and pooled in the bottom of my hammock. There was a little puddle and my UQ was definitely wet. In hindsight, I both think that I didn't do a good enough job closing off the ends of my tarp, plus neglected to bring my string lights in (they likely let water run down and under the tarp). The horizontal rain probably didn't help. I ran back to the HQ where Monkey and Fallkniven were still awake, and started weighing my options.
I knew I had a wool blanket and a full set of dry quilts as backup in my car, so that was an option. First thing I needed to do was make sure that no more water was coming in, so I ran to hang a drip line on the head end, pulled my lights down and under, and did my best to close things off. It was raining so hard that every trip out resulted in getting wetter and wetter, soaking through my shell pants below my knees, into my base layers, and starting to seep down into my waterproof boots. Back to the HQ I went, for a break from the rain, before I tried to do my next run - I was going to get a trash bag, collect the dry things from my car, and try to get them swapped out hopefully with minimal wetting.
While I was getting up the courage to make the run, we heard a "pop". Shortly after Chris183 came into the HQ - his stakes had pulled out (the sound we heard), and he was able to fix it quickly without getting too wet ... but I don't think that was the only time that happened to them. He headed back to bed, and I saw light coming from NJR's hammock. I stepped outside to check and see if he was alright ... and saw my christmas lights - clearly - which I shouldn't have been able to do. I clicked my headlamp to full power, clearly illuminating my now flapping tarp, with all 4 stakes pulled out. I ran over, tried in vain to get them staked back down (the guy lines were a tangled mess due to the wind), and realized that it was a lost cause - everything was soaked. After swearing (a LOT), I quickly unhooked my hammock, quilts and all, ran over and tossed it soaking wet into the back of my car, went back and quickly put my flailing tarp into snake skins to prevent damage, and ran for the HQ, completely soaked through. Many thanks to Monkey and Fallkniven for being dry and level headed, while I was soaked and in minor panic mode, as they helped me reason through my options. I grabbed a trash bag, went to the car and collected a TQ, wool blanket, and dry clothes/shoes, and headed back to the tent. I got changed, hung things up to dry, and resigned myself, ego bruised a bit, to riding out the night sleeping in a chair in front of the wood stove. At one point mstorck went by outside - there were wind advisories, and he was moving his kids to the car to be safe. Brockleigh apparently did the same in the night with his little guy and dog.
NJR came in not long after. He hadn't gotten soaked, but he wasn't sleeping well, and wasn't confident that his tarp was going to make it (his UQ was already wet from driving rain underneath). We stoked the stove, settled into chairs, Monkey and Fallkniven headed off to bed, and I drifted off.
I woke a while later and NJR was gone - I later found out he headed to his truck. Fallkniven had told me he left a bunch of wool blankets behind, and the chair wasn't comfortable, so I made a bed on the ground out of blankets and a pad I found, used my anorak as a pillow, and used my dry blanket on top. I fell asleep again, and woke up to camp43 coming in around 2am - he had gotten up to pee only to find that a lake had collected under his hammock. He stoked the stove, hung out for a while, and I drifted off again. When I woke up next, it was close to 4am. The tent was mostly dark, no one else was there (camp43 had also gone to his truck), and the stove was all but out. I was chilled (I think temps got down to 31˚ that night), the rain was mostly done, and I was shivering. I tried quickly to add some wood, decided it wasn't worth the effort, got out my TQ and got into that, with the wool blanket on top, warmed up and stopped shivering after about 2 minutes, and passed out until morning ...
Last edited by silentorpheus; 11-26-2018 at 18:24.
Sunday morning came with sun, quickly warming temps, and taking stock of the damage. All-in-all nothing was hurt except bruised pride (and my aching back from sleeping on the cold ground - first time in almost 10 years), and we set about cleaning up, packing up, drying out, and getting ready to leave. NJR wasn't feeling well and made an exit, and we took care of packing all the gear and kitchen up. Breakfast wasn't exactly on peoples' minds, so we just made some coffee and got to work.
People started to head out one by one. There was a brief episode with a locked car (see SS’s post above). Eventually it was just a few of us left – Ratdog, Effensmurfy, SS, camp43, and myself. We cooked a little food, finished packing the kitchen, and got everything loaded into cars. When I finally left, all that remained was Ratdog and camp43.
In the end, it was a great weekend – the food and company were a welcome thing and why I love putting on this hang every year - combined with some epic fails. But I look at it as a learning experience. I now know where I need to tweak my setup and skillset, and will hopefully make out better next time (should that kind of weather happen again). It’s possible we saw 4-5” of rain and winds 25mph plus, and that was a test to everyone’s gear. It was the worst weather I’ve ever experienced in the Pine Barrens, and possibly the worst I’ve ever personally camped in, but we all made it through … some wetter than others.
Thanks again to everyone who came out. I hope you all had a great time despite the weather, and look forward to hanging with you all again soon!
Cheers,
SO
silentorpheus and the rest, thank you for posting the report
Hello I'm new to the forum. I'm also a new backpacker and hammock user.
Y NOT= TONY SPELLED BACKWARDS
It wasn’t all catastrophe. We had a lot of bacon for breakfast the first day
And the smoked pork loin Saturday night was delicious
Plus folks had some fun in camp
We tried our best to prepare for the weather
And before it all went south, we had dessert
Mullica River still rising from all that rain this weekend. Yesterday it was at 522 cfs, 4.36 flood stage, 686% above normal. Today's it's at 628 cfs, 4.68 flood stage, 805% above normal. It looks like we'll get very close to the 5 ft. flood stage!
https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=nj&w=map
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some pics from the weekend....
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