Camping in a Hurricane

Every year, myself and a small group of guys go away on a camping trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It’s a time of mental, emotional, and spiritual growth because we all get away from phones and the hustle and bustle of daily life to get into nature and grow closer to God and each other. Every year has been an absolute treat. We have a ton of fun, and we get to help each other work through all the challenges that build up just by living through daily life.

Last year was tough on us because of quite a bit of rain that fell on us, but we managed to weather it so well that we haven’t really thought about rain since. If it’s going to rain, we’re not going to let that stop us.

Enter this year.

We had a hurricane churning in the Gulf of Mexico (yes. Mexico.) all week before out trip. We watched it closely and kept an eye on the weather. It looked like it was going to come up toward us and we were going to get some rain but it was more likely that the intensity would dwindle when it hit the coast and we’d be wet, but not drenched. As the storm got closer, it looked like rain would be a bigger problem, but we weathered it last year so what were we worried about? We knew how to handle it. Our camping list included more tarps and more canopies and, naturally, more socks just in case.

I don’t think we’ve ever been more wrong about a thing in our lives.

Everything was fine the first day. We left home with a forecast in hand that said the rain should be calming down sometime around midnight on Saturday, which would leave plenty of time for the waters of the high creek to recede and for us to go home. If not in the morning, we’d at least be out of there by the afternoon. Turns out, the weather moved on us and we had no idea. Worst of all, we didn’t move our vehicles to the other side of the creek! There’s a crossing that goes right through it and the creek is fairly high anyway so add a few inches of water and you’re getting into trouble. The weather moved in with a vengeance.

At around 5pm on Saturday, it started. It didn’t even come in fits and starts. It came in bursts and bursts that lasted hours, not minutes. Heavy, brutal downpours. We could barely talk to each other thanks to the noise of the rain hitting our canopies and tarps, and we could barely keep all of us dry because the fire smoke was billowing out into our faces around the fire. There was only so much room under the tarp. Not to mention the tarp sagged horribly meaning if you were standing under it, you were having to semi hunch just to keep from rubbing your head on it. Apparently tensile strength is a thing.

I sat up late because I was very nervous about the quickly rising creek. We’ve seen how quickly things can change when water is involved and if that creek decided to swell and spill over the banks, we’d be right next to it and floating. I don’t know what I thought I would accomplish by staying up late, but at least I could watch the river a little longer. My friend Andy sat up with me and we shared some good times. That’s a solid guy, right there.

We eventually did go to bed and it was surprisingly restful for most of the night, despite the sound of the harrier jet due to the rain falling on our rainfly. It was the loudest white noise machine you could imagine. The rushing river along with the heavy rain probably would do some decent ear damage. I couldn’t tell you because my watch had died and it couldn’t yell at me about the decibels.

Around 6 AM, I couldn’t take it anymore and just decided to get up. I put on my wet shoes, some dry socks, my wet jacket, and I went outside to see what the state of things was. I was standing in inches of water, looking at a creek that had definitely gotten to the “we should start worrying” point of it’s height and the rain was still beating down on us. I also went for a walk to the creek crossing and it was definitely far too high to get across. At this point I knew we weren’t going home and thought I should definitely get the crew up and start packing so we could move the trucks to higher ground. At this point, we didn’t know when the rain was going to stop and a lot of the campsite was already flooded at the other end.

My friend Johnathan and I went on a hike to do some reconnaissance and try to get cell signal so we could find out when the rain was going to stop. It was a rough hike with wet shoes and wet jeans, but we managed to crest a hill and get a few bars. Enough to get some text messages out and check the weather. Luckily, the rain had cleared up when we set out on the hike and managed to stay gone for the most part outside of some little drizzle. We ended up making it to a community center to scope things out and see if we could take shelter in there.

To sum things up, we got the trucks to higher ground, packed up everything, and brought what we needed to the community center. I can’t say enough about the community in this mountain area. There were multiple people stopping by and checking on us. They were asking if we needed food, invited us to shower, gave us access to the kitchen, and so much more. They were a truly supportive group who came to the aid of a bunch of idiots who thought they could manage the rain. It was seriously touching.

Our last night was spent eating good food, laughing, joking, watching fun movies, and all-in-all having a great time. We made it through another challenge and once again learned a lot. Like how we’re never camping in the rain again. Maybe a sprinkle. Maybe a little flash of rain here and there, but never inches. That was just too much.

I’m grateful for the guys I was with. Nobody had a bad attitude and everyone took action to make sure we could make it out successfully. If anyone had been negative, or crabby about it, it would have spread amongst us pretty quick. I’m proud we could hold our heads high and that God provided what we needed. Mainly a chance to once again prove our metal. I’m glad we did it, but I never want to do it again. I look forward to the next camping trip that’s good and dry and perfect for some different kinds of character building.