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Lightening storms

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    • Lightening storms

      I've read a lot about people getting stuck on top of a mountain in a lightening storm.
      What do you all do? Obviously the goal is to plan ahead and try to be in a town or a shelter before storm hits, but seeing as how I'll be hiking in the summer, pop-up storms are quite frequent. What's the best strategy?
      www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.

      Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

    • Get to a lower elevation on the trail as quick as you can. Do not seek shelter under solitary trees. If you feel static electricity or your hair rising up then chances are lightening is about to happen and they say to squat down in a tight ball and try to have only the balls of your feet touching the ground and cover your ears. If you have a foam pad, squat on that. Drop your hiking poles if they are metal.

      I've never had to do any of the above, but I have weathered some pretty good T-storms under my tarp. And of course stay out of any water. I took a partial hit years ago while swimming in the New River and it scared the daylights out of me.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
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      Make a difference

    • twistwrist wrote:

      I've read a lot about people getting stuck on top of a mountain in a lightening storm.
      What do you all do? Obviously the goal is to plan ahead and try to be in a town or a shelter before storm hits, but seeing as how I'll be hiking in the summer, pop-up storms are quite frequent. What's the best strategy?

      best advice is to get down off the ridgeline as quickly as possible. if this is impossible, get rid of your poles(both aluminum and carbon fiber are excellent electrical conductors) and make yourself as small and as low to the ground as possible. imo,this probably wont help , as lightning actually travels from ground to cloud and not the other way around, but it makes you feel like you're doing something.
      i personally try to avoid the issue by not going over mountains when theres a threat of lightning in the area. last year in maine, i decided to cut a day short when i heard thunder before going over saddleback, which is a 3 mile walk above treeline.
      hikingdude.com/hiking-lightning.php
      its all good

    • twistwrist wrote:

      I've read a lot about people getting stuck on top of a mountain in a lightening storm.
      What do you all do? Obviously the goal is to plan ahead and try to be in a town or a shelter before storm hits, but seeing as how I'll be hiking in the summer, pop-up storms are quite frequent. What's the best strategy?


      here's a good article you may wanna check out.

      oops, having trouble linking it, will keep trying. nope, not working, but worth a google.

      google NOLS lightning safety article

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Socks ().

    • jimmyjam wrote:

      Get to a lower elevation on the trail as quick as you can. Do not seek shelter under solitary trees. If you feel static electricity or your hair rising up then chances are lightening is about to happen and they say to squat down in a tight ball and try to have only the balls of your feet touching the ground and cover your ears. If you have a foam pad, squat on that. Drop your hiking poles if they are metal.

      I've never had to do any of the above, but I have weathered some pretty good T-storms under my tarp. And of course stay out of any water. I took a partial hit years ago while swimming in the New River and it scared the daylights out of me.


      hikerboy wrote:

      twistwrist wrote:

      I've read a lot about people getting stuck on top of a mountain in a lightening storm.
      What do you all do? Obviously the goal is to plan ahead and try to be in a town or a shelter before storm hits, but seeing as how I'll be hiking in the summer, pop-up storms are quite frequent. What's the best strategy?

      best advice is to get down off the ridgeline as quickly as possible. if this is impossible, get rid of your poles(both aluminum and carbon fiber are excellent electrical conductors) and make yourself as small and as low to the ground as possible. imo,this probably wont help , as lightning actually travels from ground to cloud and not the other way around, but it makes you feel like you're doing something.
      i personally try to avoid the issue by not going over mountains when theres a threat of lightning in the area. last year in maine, i decided to cut a day short when i heard thunder before going over saddleback, which is a 3 mile walk above treeline.
      hikingdude.com/hiking-lightning.php


      Both of you guys backed up everything I'm reading about it. Usually it's easy to plan to be somewhere safe before bad weather, but those sudden summer storms, there's not a helluva a lot you can do. I've read about people squatting on top of their packs, on top of rocks, and under small trees (not isolated). I bet that will be a scary ass moment. Holy hell.
      I kind of can't wait. That probably sounds crazy. Those exhilarating moments are the ones you will remember forever. The moments you survived.
      www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.

      Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

    • Tuckahoe wrote:

      I have posted this many time before, but it is my absolutely favorite hiking/camping video. That, and I just love storms...



      Those guys are pretty damn funny!
      Thanks for sharing! That was pretty awesome.
      So, noob question here, what was thtat kind of set-up they have? A hammock and hammock tent or something? Looked cool.
      www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.

      Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

    • twistwrist wrote:


      Those guys are pretty damn funny!
      Thanks for sharing! That was pretty awesome.
      So, noob question here, what was thtat kind of set-up they have? A hammock and hammock tent or something? Looked cool.


      They are using gathered end hammocks and tarps. You can spend some time looking over Shug's many hammock how-to videos on his YouTube channel. youtube.com/channel/UC27nqmEhKzD9YHK1IFwG7qA
      Of course I talk to myself... sometimes I need expert advice.

    • Maybe I should, but I don't worry about lightning on the AT unless I'm on a bald and I'm the tallest thing up there, out west is different when you get above the tree line, there I would either haul ass below tree line or hunker down in a low spot if I had to, best bet is to think ahead (which I rarely do).
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.