Summer Camping and Rainy Dayz of Oregon…

Whenever my family gets together, we inevitably reminisce about THE summer camp out at North Twin in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. This trip was a big family trip, planned for months like so many other families plan for their summer vacations.

The first few days were beautiful and filled with hot sunshine, fishing and swimming. Everyone was comfortable in shorts and swimsuits and the evenings were warm and balmy and we barely needed a fire at all. Then on the third day, the weather turned menacing with thunderous clouds building and lightning striking the mountains all around us. It was spectacular! We all enjoyed God’s fireworks with awe and wonder.

But with all that thunder and lightning also came down-pouring rain. And boy, it poured! This was the kind of rain that fills a campground in just a few hours! Rain ran down in streams of water that drowned our tents. The gallons of water raced down the trenches we struggled to dig in the dark. Our clothes were dripping wet in seconds and, of course, no one even considered the possibility of rain so did not pack a thing for us, or for our kids to wear to keep us dry and (most importantly) clean.

For the next 2 days we were all miserable. Soaked to the skin with a steady rain falling all around as we contemplated just packing up and going home. But we kept waiting to see if it would just pass over and if  we could still save our once-a-year family camping trip.

Finally, the clouds and thunder finally moved on and left the us with the hot summer sun again. Oh, it was fresh and clean alright. Steam rose from the forest floor as the sun dried away all the rain in almost minutes! The lava dust had vanished into puddles of mud mixed with pine needles all around. And the warm damp woods smelled amazing! The birds sang in the sunshine and the mountains seemed to sparkle with a “just washed” look. We, on the other hand needed washed because were covered in mud and every bit of clothing we had brought up for our kids was filthy!
​The memories are fun and we laugh about it now. But, how I wish I would have had a set of Rainy Dayz play clothes to take along back then!