Myself and several of my hiking friends had a trip planned to Robbers Cave State Park in southeastern OK for this past weekend..little did we know when we planned the trip that Rita would come calling. Undaunted, we decided to continue with the trip...knowing that if the storm got rough, or changed it's path, we could simply pack up, hike out and head home.

Saturday morning broke overcast, what we imagined were the outer bands moving in. Of course radio information was useless, nobody was telling us the forecast for our area. Lesson learned! Major station in Tulsa only lamenting the fact that they wouldn't be getting rain..and Southeastern OK, is not densly populated. So the only reports we were getting is from reporters on the ground in Texas...not very helpful when your out on a hike. I was hoping for more local information..since hurricanes do spin off tornadoes, although generally on the eastern side. The park ranger gave us a thumbs up..the rain line ran along a line from Antlers, OK to Poteau, OK. We were 10 miles north of that...so we might get a sprinkle. He was only receiting the National Weather Service report from earlier in the day.

From what I can gather, we experienced the western outer edge of the storm as it crossed Oklahoma and made it's way into AR. I can't seem to find a radar track from landfall to Sunday. It began to rain Saturday around 5 pm CST.. thankfully right after we had hiked 7 miles and got our tents set up. I believe it quit sometime around 5-6 am Sunday morning. Not pounding rain all the time..but steady, with bursts that felt as though someone were pouring out a 5 gallon bucket on the tent.

We hung a tarp in a tree and that gave us protection to cook dinner and stay out of the rain. The wind gusts, judging from the pine trees, were hitting in the 40's, but because of the mtns..well those that we have here in OK, the wind was somewhat diminished and my tent hardly moved all night, even though 30 feet above me..the wind was howling. Even though I was dry...the wind was still disconcerting at only 40 mph.

In case anyone is looking for a decent one man tent that can withstand 2 inches of rain in rougly 4 hours...take a look at the Eureka Spitfire. No affiliation..just a great tent. I stayed warm and dry all night.

I can only imagine what those, who choose to stay, along the coast went through during Katrina and Rita. My prayers are with those families trying to recover from these devasting events.