Monday, September 9, 2013: It never rained much last night – just a brief mist – but it’s a very gray cloudy morning when I roll out of the tent at 7:00 AM. I have Outdoor Herbivore’s Coconut Chia Peel (30 mg sodium) for breakfast. It’s different and I alternately think it’s pretty good or just OK.

The morning is dark and cloudy with intermittent spells of light mist until 9:45. Here comes the rain – a good old-fashioned downpour. It’s raining harder and harder all the time. It’s still raining hard at 11:45 when I look up and see two paddlers headed north on the lake. The bow paddler is hatless and wearing a T-shirt in the cool, breezy downpour. I watch two squirrels who are still busy in the cedar trees, while the dry area under the tarp grows smaller and smaller.

At 12:45 PM, the rain is a torrential downpour and rivers are running through the camp. The tent is in a puddle rapidly becoming a pond. I take advantage of a slackening of the rain at 1:15 PM to wade out to the tent, uproot the stakes, and half-drag/half-carry the tent onto a sloping downhill, sidehill spot littered with roots and rocks. I wade back out and retrieve the once dry camp shoes that were stored in the vestibule. Then the rain stops.

I take advantage of the lull in the storm to move around, take some pictures, and have a cup of coffee. The deluge continues with thunder at 3:30 PM; it’s breezier and cooler now. When the rain dwindles to a light sprinkle at 4:00 PM, I head to the tent for another layer just in time to sit out another downpour in the tent. I discover it’s dripping from the very top of the tent onto the edge of my sleeping bag so I move it to the side and hope the drip quits. I tighten the fly as much as I can when I get out of the tent.

I have Outdoor Herbivore’s Chunky Chipotle Chile (620 mg sodium) for supper. It’s a little soupy to start with and has a dry spot and some “crunchies” at the bottom – apparently I didn’t get it mixed thoroughly. It’s very misty right now, but not really raining. The forecast is still the same, maybe a slightly higher chance of rain in the morning. I’m tired of sitting in camp watching it rain. Once again I’m in the tent early to escape the mosquitos.