Jun 01 2006
Hail to the Hail!
We had a great camping/concert trip last weekend to the Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge in George,WA. However, our concert was cut short by a freak hail storm during the Neko Case set. You can see 24 seconds of the 20 MINUTE! hail storm. Fortunately we got a bunch of good shows in before the hail including Gomez, Stephen Malkmus, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, Rogue Wave, and Band of Horses. Unfortunately we missed out on the Shins, The Flaming Lips, and Ben Harper. They shut the stage down for almost 2 hours while the hail storm passed and then had to set up again. Our camping spot at Sun Lakes (about an hour north) was missed by the really bad weather so we were warm and dry that night, unlike many of the campers at the Gorge campground who had to wade through deep mud. More photos from our trip soon. I had forgotten (or never appreciated) how beautiful Eastern Washington is.
3 Responses to “Hail to the Hail!”
So what would you recommend as the one piece of essential gear to survive a hail storm at the Gorge?
Good question, G!
To the degree we were wearing moisture wicking clothing, we dried off pretty fast (e.g., my smart wool hiking socks dried fast, my cotton bluejeans: not so fast).
As for a single piece of gear: we had brought a tarp with us to the Gorge, and were not allowed to take it in.
But, the people who were allowed to bring in their tarps seemed to do pretty well in the hail. They wrapped themselves in a tarp sandwich so they were both off the wet ground and sheltered from the incoming barrage of rain and/or hail.
Still, I think everyone got wet more than they wanted, so now I am definitely a big convert to wearing moisture wicking clothes in camping / outdoor situations.
Umbrellas are also useful if you have no cover as they keep the pellets from hurting a lot; although you have to be willing for that to be the last act of your umbrella.