Flash Floods Do Exist

June 28, 2018 - Pennsylvania - Appalachian Trail

Written By: Flip-Flop

We left an overcrowded shelter, and we were racing to get to campsite before the rain. We hiked a few miles, set up camp, had dinner, and fell asleep just as it started to rain; success so we thought.

However when we woke up at 3am, our shoes were floating in our vestibules and the ground under us was a water bed. We had clearly set up in the wrong spot, and now we had to figure out how to stop the water from coming through the tent floor. 

We tried to redirect the water around our tent, but had no luck. So after an hour of sitting on our sleeping bags (the only way to keep our bums dry) we dragged our tent to a better spot.

Moving camp in the middle of the night, with headlamps, in the pouring rain IS NOT FUN and is something I will never forget having to do.

We relocated and fell back asleep on our wet sleeping pads. When we woke up our friend complained of a wet sock that was left out in the rain, LOL nothing compared to the night we had.

Our waterbed of a tent floor at 3 am in the morning.

In the first 10 seconds of video you can see the river that formed behind our tent; that was not there the night before. 

 At 14 seconds you can see where our first campsite was (washed out square spot in dirt), and at 17 seconds you can see the path the water took from the mountain down to our tent site, and some fun comedy from the boys.

 

 This photo was taken just a mile north of camp.
The sky turned blue, the sun came out so we could dry EVERYTHING out.

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