One afternoon while I was camping, major thunderstorms were being predicted. As I listened to the radio and heard reports of the storms moving across the state (which included tornado warnings for counties in the storm’s path), I decided I didn’t want to be at my campsite when the storm came through, and headed to town for supper. After supper I hung out in town for a few hours as torrential rains and very strong winds hit the area. Once the storm warnings were over I drove back to camp.
As I got within a few miles of the campground I began to see trees down — a lot of them. Some trees were covering parts of the road. The closer I got to camp, the more I felt like I was driving into a war zone. It was a few hours after dark and seeing all the storm damage illuminated by the remaining lighting that was happening made it just a little creepy.
The major winds that hit the area did quite a bit of damage.
The tree that came down closest to my campsite (above and below) was about 15 inches in diameter at the breaking point!
Luckily, no one in my campground got hurt. Plastic parts that held the poles of my screen tent broke, and some of the screening tore, but with all the trees that came down I felt lucky my other tent was still standing and I had a dry place to sleep for the night.
That’s a camping experience you will not soon forget. It looks worse in the photos than what it sounded like when you told me about it. The photo showing the tree shattered where it snapped off is excellent. Thanks for sharing.
Picture seeing those scenes at night, in the rain, illuminated only by car headlights and the lightning. The closer I got to my campsite, the more I wondered if I’d be able to stay there that night. I was so glad I didn’t ride out the storm in camp.