I always enjoyed reading other people's stories, and now I have one of my own.
I have had my Tarptent Moment over a month and a half and have been dying to get out and use it getting it. Given that I have no yard, the only way to try it out would be to go on a little weekend trip. So, I packed up my gear and headed to Wild River State Park (next on my goal to camp at every state park in MN). I knew there were supposed to be storms; I wanted to test the tent out in the elements anyway. Given that it only had two stakes, I knew I wanted tree cover to help with any high winds. Yet, when she asked which site I wanted, I believed her when she said, "Oh yah, Meadow Vista has plenty of trees."
Mistake #1 Go with your instinct, I should have guessed something named "Meadow Vista" would be a bad idea in a wind storm.
There actually were trees, but only on the side of the site, and nothing cleared enough for a tent. Not to mention it was on a hillside, and the only flat part was right at the edge of the very large meadow (mile and a half long, 1/2 mile wide, site right in the middle of one side). I made a guess at which way the wind would blow and setup the tent.
Sitting on the edge of the meadow I was able to watch one of the most amazing lightning shows while eating dinner and looking across the meadow. It was still some distance away, but I knew I'd likely get a little action. I ate dinner early and got my camp all squared away such that when the first few drops of rain began to fall, I was able to hoisted my food bag and head to the tent to stay dry. At this point, it was the proverbial calm before the storm, there was very little rain and no wind movement to speak of. It seemed the clouds were rolling the big storm away from me, but after reviewing archived radar images, that was just the powerful inflow to the storm.
About a half hour later, I was dozing, listening to the light rain and thunder, when I saw the tent start to move in a breeze. Good I thought, some breeze to cool it off a bit. Little did I know what was in store…
Within no time, the breeze picked up to tent shaking gusts. I was bracing the pole with my hands as the wind pounded the broadside of the tent. I've never been in rain that hard and that loud while inside such a small shelter. I was expecting a little misting, single wall tent and all, however, it was more like a filter against the torrential downpour, I was getting hit with so much water that I decided I'd pack my sleeping back and a few other items in the garbage bag I used as a stuff sack. It was pretty warm still, but I was slowly getting wet inside the tent. I figured if I kept the bag dry, I could dry myself once the rain let up and then I'd still have a dry bag in case the temp dropped quickly. I laid on my pad waiting…
I'm not sure what I was doing when I felt it but I remember nylon hitting me on the back, my worst fear, one of the stakes popped out and the non-freestanding tent fell.
Mistake #2: I was worried about getting wet, so I didn't restake the tent at the first sign the wind was coming from the worst possible angle. Lesson, being soaked from a driving rain while restaking is probably a small price for keeping everything dry inside the tent. Need to practice restaking a non-freestanding tent without repacking everything.
Water poured in. The bathtub floor became, well, like a bathtub. I found the zipper and as I got out I was able to throw on my raincoat; I was still in my boxers. What I saw when I emerged, I don't think I will soon forget. It was one of the most awesome forces of power I have ever seen. Rain was coming up through the meadow in sheets. One second I could see across to the other side, and the next I couldn't see 30 feet ahead. The few trees in the clearing were being whipped around like rag dolls. The lightning and thunder was intense. I was able to restake the tent; everything inside was drenched. I had spent the day in passing showers, so before turning in I laid things out hoping they would dry. Once the tent fell, it all became soaked. Luckily, I had protected a few important things along with the sleeping bag when I packaged it up. Cell phone in case of trouble, socks for my feet.
I knew I wouldn't last long where I currently was. I decided I needed to move to more protected ground and fast. I unstaked the tent and picked it up and with stuff still inside dragged it to the path down to the campsite. It had a lot of trees on the leeward side and a line on the windward side. Even though the wind was blowing directly at me now, the trees provided a eddy for me to hide in. Unfortunately, it was on a nasty slope, one that would not be conducive to sleeping.
When I picked the tent up, everything inside, water, camera (Canon 5D Mk II), etc, congregated in a nice puddle in the middle.
Mistake #3: My camera is weather sealed, so it would have likely been fine in the rain. I thought about it as I was getting out of the tent, but didn't follow through by picking it up. Luckily, all my camera gear is insured, so the most I'm out is the deductible.
Despite most of my stuff and I being completely drenched, I was now in a protected area. I took stock of my situation, I was drenched, my only shirt was soaked, my tent still had puddles collecting on the downhill side. I was pretty sure I could recover. I'd have to dry off as best I could using whatever wasn't wet and could then get in the sleeping bag to stay warm if need be. At the time I was wearing only my boxers and shirt, I was soaked but I wasn't cold. However, I had no idea what else Mother Nature might throw at me. With winds that strong I was worried about tornados and just felt lucky to have made it through. With rain that hard, I expected there'd be a temperature drop, which made me a little uneasy.
Given my situation, I made up my mind, I spent the day hiking around the periphery of the park to give me some mileage, but the walk-in sites were only 1.5 miles from the car, I'd pack it in and spend the night in my bed. Having a completely soaked map wasn't much help, and I was really glad to have the GPS and extremely well marked state park trails.
On the way back there were a number of trees blown down, including one where it looked like the entire top of a tree had been snapped off, all I saw was a wall of leaves 7 feet tall and 10 feet long across the path. While the nearest reporting station only pegged gusts at 30mph, I'm guessing that kind of damage was caused by something more substantial. Most of the trail turned pools of water. Even the parking lot was one giant puddle. I thought I'd stop in the trail center to dry off a little, but a man and his two sons were there. He looked like he'd seen a ghost and said their tent was ripped to shreds by the wind. They were sleeping in the trail center for the night, so I decided to let them be and just dry off at home.
All in all, the only part of the experience that made me miserable was losing my camera. I'm a big believer that you have to test your boundaries (safely) so you know how you can avoid them when it isn't safe. I definitely did that and hope I'll learn from my mistakes; there are certainly a few changes I'm going to make in my gear and methods to be better prepared for a mid-night thunderstorm.
Despite the tent falling down, I'm happy so far with the Moment, I just pray I didn't rip or puncture it when I have to move it so quickly. The misting was a little worrisome, but I'm guessing that's just that I'm not used to a single wall yet. I might replace the short little stakes with 2 longer ones; or maybe consider taking the crossing pole when I know conditions might be dodgy. However, I'd much rather have the stake fail than the tent fabric.
Other gear reports, I decided I'd try a GG Uberlight sack for my hang, they're overpriced but so so light… It kept my gear dry for the most part, however, even 12 hours later there was water inside the top.
My question to those that have made it this far down the page, how can you restake a non-freestanding tent in a hurry without dumping water on the contents?
