This month’s trip report by Kent Walters: School of River Paddling, pointed up a HUGE DANGER when going on a trip.

Their plan was to get on the water the next morning, and they had met with the leader and gone over the plan, and had the safety meeting.

 

That night, it started raining. And lightninging, and thundering. And raining. Tents started leaking. The RIVER STARTED FLOODING. And THEIR CAMPSITE STARTED FLOODING.

By the next morning, Emergency vehicles showed up, and they were forced to break camp in the continuing rain, toss everything in the truck, and EVACUATE the campground.

YIKES!

AND DOUBLE YIKES!

Their truck needed to be pulled out of the camp.

WHAT THE …?

This serves as a reminder that our best plans sometimes meet up with nature doing it’s thing, and producing extreme rain events and flooding. Even in the middle of the night. And sometimes it will rain 60 inches in two days and put a crimp in everybody’s plans for weeks.

 

Think about that when pitching your tent for a paddle event. Do you have an escape route? Can you pack up in a couple of minutes and evacuate? Because you might have to.

 

Thankfully, Kent and his cohorts managed to escape unharmed. But, geez. What an adventure.

 

Stay safe out there!

See You On The Water

Harmon

 

 

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