[pct-l] RE: Scariest Noise

[jcoyle at sanjuan.edu (John Coyle)]

This really wasn't scary in the sense that I felt I was in danger, but
rather in the sense that it was bizarre and confusing.  Several years ago I
was on an overnighter here in NoCal when I woke up around 1AM to what
sounded like the initial pitter patter of light rain on the rain fly of my
Zoid tent.  At first the sound was comforting, but then I remembered the
forecast for no rain, and I though to myself, "boy did the weatherman get it
wrong this time."  I looked out the large side door of the Zoid and saw
nothing but stars above me.  Thinking I must be dreaming, I tried to get
back to sleep, but the noise was still there and in fact was increasing in
intensity just as an approaching rain storm might do. By now I was slightly
irritated, so I threw my bag aside, climbed out of the tent and stared at
the fly from above.  Perfectly dry.  I looked at the sky; no clouds and the
Milky Way was in full display.  I got back in my tent but the noise still
continued and in fact was getting louder.  I noticed the sound seemed to be
coming from inside my tent and then I noticed a slight bulging sensation
right in the small of my back coming from my bargain basement Slumberjack
self inflating mattress. Now I thought I was in the Twilight Zone with a
strange noise AND a bulging sensation in the small of my back.  I got off
the pad and stared at it--there was definitely a bulge there. It turned out
that the nylon cover was delaminating from the foam core of my sleeping pad
forming a bulge that eventually got to the size of a persons head.  As the
mattress slowly delaminated and the cover pulled away from the core bit by
bit, it sounded just like rain on a tent fly.

John Coyle