Stealth Camping Is Acceptable As Long As You Are Hidden

Day 85 June 15, 2017 Time: 7:42am - 4pm & 6pm - 7pm Weather: Cloudy Misty and torrential rain The day started out great. We had dry clothes for once. Well, mine were almost dry. I used the hand dryer in the ladies room to get most of the moisture out of my shirt. Shortcake was dry and clean. She took the time and did laundry last night. Not me. Our dryness lasted about 30 minutes into the hike. That's about when the morning's incline heated us up to full on drippy sweat. That first hour we had lots to photograph. We saw a cute bunny. A beautiful view and even a tree turned into tooth picks by last night's storm.

By 1pm our sweat drenched clothing was rinsed clean by a shower. It poured for over an hour. Just as we began to start to dry the heavens opened up again making the first soaking seem like the desert. I have never been outside in such a torrential down pour with thunder thrown in just to make things interesting. For the 2 hour rinse cycle I repeated Hail Mary's and Thank You Jesus for keeping us safe. It was quite hair raising. We arrived at the shelter, our destination for the day only to find it full. How surprising. Did we actually think there'd be room for us. Batman was going to park at the road 2 miles ahead and hike in but wouldn't arrive until late. With the rain I sent a message to say stay in the car. One wet hiker in my tent was enough and we'd see him in the morning. But Shortcake and I decided to hike the 2 miles once the rain lightened up and stealth camp. Stealth camping is allowed as long as you are hidden. Once we arrived at the road I walked on to find a suitable spot for our tents. None. So I said let's set up in the parking lot.

We managed to get our tents up in between rain drops and stash our wet gear under our vestibules. We disrobed our wet clothing as well and put on our dry ones. Just as the sun began to vanish lights pulled in and we hear a friendly hello. I knew it was the park ranger. Shucks! We'd been discovered. I explained our situation that our ride was late and we were trying to keep dry. He said no problem as long as we don't stay here all night. Which means when Batman finally does show up we need to pack up and disappear somewhere. It's going to be a long night. Happy Hiking.