Photo by Ivar.

To start, I hate mornings and I have difficulty sleeping in a tent while it is raining (tent on left in photo above). Every 10-30 minutes or so I would be startled awake by the noise and flip on my flashlight to make sure the tent wasn't leaking onto my sleeping bag and mat. This is pretty much how my evening went since I went to bed sometime after midnight.

The last time I woke up the rain sounded incredibly loud but far away. There was also an occasional sound that reminded me of firewood logs being stacked. I decided to investigate so I opened the side window of my tent and shined my flashlight out to discover the wonderful new river separating Wheel camp from the rest of the site. The noise was a combination of the river itself and rocks and branches hitting the tree in the middle of the water. I dressed in the only dry clothes I had left to investigate. A quick check with the flashlight showed that the water was receding a bit. I stopped by Phocion's tent (tent on right in photo above) to let him know there was a new river 6 feet from his tent since his was the most likely to be swept away if the water level rose. I put some markers in the water to help keep track of the water level.

At this time I became aware of a whistling noise and flashlight up the hill above where Esydra camp was. I walked over to find out what was going on and found four folks cold and wet waiting for rescue as the water that was just passing by our camp came straight through theirs. I went back to my tent and grabbed my hat, mantle, and only dry blanket I had left to help keep them warm while they waited.

I headed back to Wheel camp and then flashing lights and sirens started appearing in the main camping area. Someone with a flashlight came to the other side of our new river and after a short conversation, yelling at each other over the noise, I was informed that the site was being evacuated. Woke up Lurker, Randall, Azrael-Jade, and Phocion to let them know what was going on. After a short time someone showed up at the river again and asked if anyone was hurt and we were told to stay put and wait for the rescue team. They also asked if we had food and water several times. Every so often someone would walk up and tell us to stay put and wait for the rescue team and then ask if we had food and water again. I'm not sure if it was the same person from before because it was dark and hard to hear.

At dawn we checked out the other campsites on our side to see what was going on and found that our neighbors tents were either washed away or buried in dirt from the water rushing through. Since we were now just stuck on the other side of the river and would likely have to leave equipment on the other side if we were rescued, we started packing our gear for later retrieval. While we were packing, Marcil showed up on the other side of the river so I started throwing gear across the water to him to pack in the truck we came in. Right after I threw the last of our gear across Brennon, Glen, and Clalibus showed up and let us know that the reason the site was being evacuated was because the bridge was going out and that we were likely to be left there until the bridge was fixed. Phocion helped me finish bagging up my wet tent and I threw it over to Marcil. Brennon and Glen were pulling a rope taught that was tied to a tree at a narrow area they had found upstream so we could get across, it was only one large step across for me but it was very deep and fast moving at that point so it would not have been a fun place to fall. We crammed the last of the stuff we had packed up into the truck and onto Marcil's and Lurker's laps in the back seat.

Once we got to the bridge over the actual river, it was underwater and forest personnel were guiding trucks across one by one. They were pointing out the bad spots to drivers and doing traffic control for all of the logs that were flowing down the river. We waited our turn, then waited for a log to pass by before we got through.

However much fun it would have been to stay at Clan waiting for rescue, I'm much happier that Brennon and Glen got us across the water.