Our small group set south towards the Pine Barrens for a last minute camping trip. As we put distance between us and the city our phones slowly revealed an alarmingly intense storm brewing. We entered camp getting notifications of intense storms just as we lost signal. In the past we've set up camp with threatening storms and had them pass us over so we decided to chance it. The Pine Barrens offer amazing camping, large sites and sandy terrain.
Setting up camp it struck us that no one was around, we had a run of the entire camp ground save one other family. Not a good sign of the storm. Camp established we set to cooking, and were briefly interrupted with a small drizzle. To play it safe we rolled out our fresh trap. Unknown to us we'd ordered an absurdly large tarp off Amazon, and now we were set for a cozy night ready to weather anything nature threw at us.
It took all of us to wrangle this massive tarp into shape, once strung up we made things cozy and settled in for a storm. And did a storm come! Things escalated quickly, from a light drizzle to a severe down pour. Gusts of wind throwing buckets of water off our tarp. Our tents ending up in massive puddles requiring emergency repositioning.
Between locking down camp and adjusting things we cooked an amazing meal with cocktails under our tarp. Lite by makeshift can lanterns we listened to weird podcasts talked about space and stayed up late. Dinner consisted of a bluefin, avocado salad, and spring pea + tomato salad. An impressive camp meal regardless, let alone something made under a tarp over a biolite during a down pour.
Around 2 am a massive gust cut through camp, snagging our tarp and in one fell swoop ripped off most of the attachment points. Our night was officially wrapped up.
In the morning we lazily make breakfast, dried out everything, and cleaned up debris. Overall one of the best camps we've had. Camping always seems better off when there is something to overcome, something to bond the group together with.