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The wind on day 3 of the Eagle Rock loop in Arkansas made me rethink my whole shelter setup
I did the Eagle Rock Loop in the Ouachita National Forest back in April, planned for 3 days and 2 nights, and the first two days were great. Day 3 started fine until about mile 4 when the wind picked up out of nowhere, gusting hard enough that my trekking poles were shaking and I had to lean into it just to keep moving on the ridge sections. I had set up my tarp in a spot that was pretty exposed the night before, and around 2am a gust ripped one of my stakes clean out of the ground, so I spent 20 minutes in the dark re-staking and piling rocks on the guy lines while my hands went numb. The next morning I talked to a guy named Dale at the trailhead who had done the loop 8 times, and he said the ridgeline campsites past mile 12 are the worst for wind and he always drops down 200 feet to the valley spots. I finished the loop but that night taught me more about campsite selection than any video or article I had read. I'm curious if anyone else has specific tricks for picking a campsite when the terrain gives you no natural windbreaks, because my rock-piling method felt pretty sketchy.
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fisher.thomas20d ago
Did you ever try sleeping in the valley spots before this happened? I used to figure a high camp was always better since you get the view and fewer bugs, so I kept picking ridge spots even when the trees were thin. Then a buddy dragged me down into a low saddle on a trip in the Smokies and I slept through the whole night while the tops of the ridges were getting hammered. Now I look for a little dip below the trail first thing, even if it means walking an extra ten minutes. It feels wrong to give up the view, but waking up with all my stakes still in the dirt changed my mind fast.
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