View Full Version : Anyone near Sassafrass Gap Saturday Night?
gold bond
05-12-2008, 11:01
Myself and two ther guys went and did a short section, from the NOC to Stecoha Gap. We decided to stay at a campsite at Sassafrass Gap as we were in no hurry. Everything was great. Two of us hung our hammocks and one guy stayed in his home made tarp. About one o'clock in the morning it started raining...no biggie. Well all of a sudden we got wind...I do mean wind! It blew packs around, boots everything! Had to abandon the hammock as it was a fillin' with water!! The wind kept up all night long. At the least, and I'm no meteroligist, the winds were 40-45 MPH and gusting stronger than that at times. All we could do was hold on to the tarp and ride it out. Learned some good things thru this experince if nothing else. Thank God for good brandy and a sense of humor!
Just wondering if anyone else was in the area and had the same experiance.
I was no where near there, but most of Alabama (the northern 1/2) had a huge storm blow thru Saturday night and sustained winds of 20mph alllllll day yesterday. (Sunday) and I cant even hazard a guess at the gusts speeds. Dont know if this is part of the same storm or not...
leeki pole
05-12-2008, 11:23
The back side of the storm had winds sustained in the 35-45 mile per hour range with gusts to 55. I was visiting my Mom yesterday and driving back southbound on I-55 through southern Missouri and Arkansas, the crazy motorcyclists were leaning a good 10 degrees to starboard to counter the westerly winds. I bet you got some serious wind up there. Glad you're okay.
gold bond
05-12-2008, 11:34
The back side of the storm had winds sustained in the 35-45 mile per hour range with gusts to 55. I was visiting my Mom yesterday and driving back southbound on I-55 through southern Missouri and Arkansas, the crazy motorcyclists were leaning a good 10 degrees to starboard to counter the westerly winds. I bet you got some serious wind up there. Glad you're okay.
Thanks! Like I said it was brutal. My first mistake was setting up on the ridge, That was a big no-no! Second of all I was using a hammock for the first time and probably some of my problems were "operator error".
The ligtning was crazy. It would flash and you could feel the heat and here the thunder before the lightning even quit.To close for my comfort!
The winds though...I have never seen wind like this. I have been in a hurricane, and a tornado, but man this wind was so weird.It was relentless. Acutually tore one of the hammocks, the skeeter beater took a direct hit!
Funny though, Twack stayed in his hammock and all nite you could here him a cussing! He said it was like a carnival ride. Said he dang near got sick it was bouncing and swinging so bad!
Fortunate you are.
I will not sleep on a ridge with an electrical storm front coming in.
Egads
Same thing happened to me, at Sassafras, in April. The winds started about 12:30am and didn't stop. Then the rain came around 6 am, in monsoon form. Lots of fun. :)
gold bond
05-12-2008, 16:28
Fortunate you are.
I will not sleep on a ridge with an electrical storm front coming in.
Egads
Yes lucky us....
Checked the weather the day we left which was Friday the 9th and all was said to be good untill Sunday night. Well.....guess the weather guy was wrong....go figure!
gold bond
05-12-2008, 16:31
Same thing happened to me, at Sassafras, in April. The winds started about 12:30am and didn't stop. Then the rain came around 6 am, in monsoon form. Lots of fun. :)
If nothing else makes for good drinking stories! You know the differance between a trail story and a fairy tale?
Fairy tale starts out with, "Once upon a time..." and a trail story starts with, " This ain't no s**t!":banana