Lull in the storm

No one slept well last night. A ferocious wind storm in the middle of the night roared down from the Scapegoat Mountains. All night the wind screamed and wailed pulling at the stakes that held our tents down and fingering little nooks trying to tear them away. It was like sleeping through a gale out at sea, and a little bit scary at times. The wild weather humbling, especially with no where to flee to...

By morning our tent was unscathed, but two others had broken poles - snapped and twisted metal. That is how strong those gusts were. Casey and I had to rush around for damage control collapsing all the tents and bivvying camp out of the winds.

Today was supposed to be our rest day to read and catch up on class reading, and so we did though we were left no respite from the winds. Hoping for sun, we instead just tried to stay warm, reading in gullies and behind bushes and trees by the river. By late afternoon things had settled down some and the worst was over.

Again the stars came out shining bright with no cloud fleece. The solar horizon stretched taut and bare.