I have dealt with my fair share of bad weather while adventuring, including intense heat, freezing blizzards, lightning storms and torrential downpour. Until my July adventure at Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, however, I hadn't dealt with hail. While in my tent. My sister and I had called it an early day on our first day at the park after an all-night drive to get there, and were napping at our campsite when the storm rolled in. We'd seen it building, then slowly moving toward us, so we were prepared for the rain and wind; our tent was weighted down and the fly was taunt. I'd also taken a considerable risk and camped under a short juniper, hoping for protection from both sun and the heaviest rain while being aware that in a windstorm a branch, or the whole tree, could come down on top of us. That decision turned out to be a wise one, when we started hearing heavier thunks than the normal rain drop. A peak under the fly showed us pea-sized hail, and a lot of it. I held an internal debate, not wanting to say it out loud and jinx us: it was either make a run for the car, or stay in the tent and hope the hail wouldn't rip a hole in it. The prospect of going out in the hail was highly uninviting, so I decided to wait it out and see what happened. Within a few minutes the hail lightened up, then stopped altogether as the thunder continued to roll. I went back to my nap and slept right through the rest of the storm, pleased with myself for investing in such a great tent, and with my risky decisions paying off. I can add hail to my resume of bad weather camping.
Leave me a comment below and tell me what you would have done in this situation. Stay put, or make a run for it?
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