Coming from and spending the majority of our lives in the Midwest area, it is almost a given that rain is part of a holiday weekend.
As we worked the federal parks, when campers checked in with us, the first thing they would ask is it going to rain? We would always put a smile on our face as we respond to them with this answer “of course-it’s a holiday weekend!”
Sure enough sometime during the course of the weekend, a thunderstorm or just rain would pelt them and get everything all wet. The worse would be on the Monday they would have to leave and the rain would come-soaking everything as they try to pack up. To a camper it would be frustrating, but to us gate attendants and cleaners, it would be glorious-for we could get the park back to shape early.
When we worked one of our parks where we had to clean as well as run the booth, we would almost pray for rain on holiday weekends or Sundays. When rain was a threat on Sundays or holiday weekends, campers would pack up early and head out, instead of hanging out for the rest of the day, playing on the water or doing whatever.
As we are finishing up the first holiday to kick off the summer here in Grand Junction, we did have a slight chance of rain. But rain wasn’t the thing that had campers scampering in the middle of the night for safety, it was winds. We had several campers in tent that ended up either sleeping in their vehicles or finding elsewhere to finish the remaining of the night out on Saturday Night. Come Sunday morning as we walked around, fighting the high gust of winds, we found several tents completely destroyed. We even found one tent that appeared to have flying lessons and ended up in the brush near the river.
We had sustain winds between 25 to 30mph with gust exceeding 55+. Let me tell you, we felt those gust as they literally about blew you off the road! Island Acres State Park is situated between canyon walls, so it creates more of a wind tunnel. The winds started to kick up late on Saturday night and got worse throughout the night and all day on Sunday, letting up just a bit through Sunday night into Monday morning. Yet the winds still can be felt as I’m still typing this.
By Sunday morning, even our own camper was rocking sideways. As I said earlier, many tenters tents were either flatten or poles had snapped and broke. As the day went on, the winds seem to get worse and now the pop-up campers were starting to feel the effect of the wind. One of them received damage and had to move sites for more protection from the high wind gust.
As one of our rangers went out to due park check, she looked over the Colorado River and saw where the wind had created what one would think as a water spout. She told us about it and she was amazed by it.
As the afternoon went on, we started to get some very frazzle campers coming off the interstate that just couldn’t handle the winds traveling anymore. I was glad that the State Park here was able to accommodate these folks. By late afternoon, the sun was under a cloud of dust, and as you look out, all you could really see what a thick cloud-all dust….
So if asking me whether I would prefer rain or wind, I would actually have to say if the winds are like what we saw the last 24+ hours, I will take the rain.
As we worked the federal parks, when campers checked in with us, the first thing they would ask is it going to rain? We would always put a smile on our face as we respond to them with this answer “of course-it’s a holiday weekend!”
Sure enough sometime during the course of the weekend, a thunderstorm or just rain would pelt them and get everything all wet. The worse would be on the Monday they would have to leave and the rain would come-soaking everything as they try to pack up. To a camper it would be frustrating, but to us gate attendants and cleaners, it would be glorious-for we could get the park back to shape early.
When we worked one of our parks where we had to clean as well as run the booth, we would almost pray for rain on holiday weekends or Sundays. When rain was a threat on Sundays or holiday weekends, campers would pack up early and head out, instead of hanging out for the rest of the day, playing on the water or doing whatever.
As we are finishing up the first holiday to kick off the summer here in Grand Junction, we did have a slight chance of rain. But rain wasn’t the thing that had campers scampering in the middle of the night for safety, it was winds. We had several campers in tent that ended up either sleeping in their vehicles or finding elsewhere to finish the remaining of the night out on Saturday Night. Come Sunday morning as we walked around, fighting the high gust of winds, we found several tents completely destroyed. We even found one tent that appeared to have flying lessons and ended up in the brush near the river.
We had sustain winds between 25 to 30mph with gust exceeding 55+. Let me tell you, we felt those gust as they literally about blew you off the road! Island Acres State Park is situated between canyon walls, so it creates more of a wind tunnel. The winds started to kick up late on Saturday night and got worse throughout the night and all day on Sunday, letting up just a bit through Sunday night into Monday morning. Yet the winds still can be felt as I’m still typing this.
By Sunday morning, even our own camper was rocking sideways. As I said earlier, many tenters tents were either flatten or poles had snapped and broke. As the day went on, the winds seem to get worse and now the pop-up campers were starting to feel the effect of the wind. One of them received damage and had to move sites for more protection from the high wind gust.
As one of our rangers went out to due park check, she looked over the Colorado River and saw where the wind had created what one would think as a water spout. She told us about it and she was amazed by it.
As the afternoon went on, we started to get some very frazzle campers coming off the interstate that just couldn’t handle the winds traveling anymore. I was glad that the State Park here was able to accommodate these folks. By late afternoon, the sun was under a cloud of dust, and as you look out, all you could really see what a thick cloud-all dust….
So if asking me whether I would prefer rain or wind, I would actually have to say if the winds are like what we saw the last 24+ hours, I will take the rain.
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