Tent people at SleepyBear

Corey Lynn

Just got back to Grand Rapids from Noblesville. It was a very interesting weekend. Mother nature really fucked with us this time. Set up camp on Thursday, which was a good idea after seeing everyone scramble to put their tents up in the gusting wind yesterday. The rain flys became sails and anything not staked down threatened to launch. There were 10 tents set up when we got in on Thursday and were told that by Saturday there were 700 people coming...and they did. The day started beautifully ..but the ominous clouds floated in.
The wind was incredible. During Lukin I saw a blue poncho rise above the crowd and engulf a guys face.
Sleeping was a trip. The wind would gust with such vengeance that it sounded like a freight train was coming thru.
I was surprised that it was like setting up camp in someones yard. The showers were cold like hose water and the porta johns were a little scary at times..and no personal campfires were allowed...but, the reason that I am glad that I had this experience is that I was able to see hundreds of people helping each other and playing music and sharing their love for Pearl Jam.
On the web site it said "hassle free environment" and it truly was.
I ended up exhausted, sun burned, wind burned, dirty, and my hair was practically deadlocked from the wind, but I got to see my favorite band again and that made the rest very tolerable.

Corey Lynn

Where are the tent people...there were a bunch of you...

realmgeorge

CRAZY EXPERIENCE!!!!

Froze my ass off Saturday night!

Indifference71

Walked by the campground and it looked like everyone was having a great time. Will definitely camp out at sleepybear next time I go to Deer Creek...

indifferentman

Yeah, I showed up Thursday too. We were about 1/2 Way down on the tree line. Not exactly what I expected either. NO access to a sink or even a water spigot for matter, COLD showers, cramped space, etc. etc. I would say to a certain degree though it was worth it for the experience of hanging out with other fans and being able to WALK across a field instead of being stuck in a parking lot for HOURS and not getting back to a hotel til 2 or 3 AM.

The weather was RIDICULOUS though. I'm suprised we got as little rain as we did. At about 6 AM on Friday I woke up to really loud thunder and lightening so I jumped out of the tent, grabbed anything I wanted to keep dry and threw it in the car, then covered the tent with a tarp, then went back to sleep. When I woke up again the ground wasn't even wet!

I'm glad I had a small 2 man tent. All the big 8 man tents and bigger tall ones that had flimsy pools were litterally folding inward. I can't believe the wind didn't cartwheel an awning across the field either. Those are dangerous in weather like that.

I ended up hanging around the campfire til about 4 AM drinking and I'm glad I didn't because I wouldn't have slept for shit if I went to bed early. My friend went to bed early and he said he hardly slept because of the wind. It was like sleeping inside of a plastic bag because the whole tent was shaking steadily!

I'd think twice about staying there again because it was such a piss pour campground, but it was conveinent and hanging out with everyone was fun.

Corey Lynn

Yeah indifferentman..it was totally fucked up. We were on the tree line too. We were right in between the trees when they became single file (if that makes any sence). It was just me and my friend Andrea. Just us two girls. I had never put up a tent before...and really thought I might die in the middle of the night on Thursday with the storms and Friday with the gail force winds. Friday after the show,I really wanted to drink to be able to endure the cold and wind, but my friend went to sleep early..so I just layed in the tent , cold..annoyed and kinda scared I was going to blow away. I should have wandered out and tried to find people to hang out with...but, it seemed like people were kinda sticking to their own groups of people...and I am kinda shy. Had fun drinking before the show though...and was so happy to be at a show again.
as far as accommodations at Sleepy Bear...they pretty much blew.

indifferentman

Yeah, that place really was "some guy's back yard" more or less. I've never seen such a shitty setup as far as a campground, if you could even call it that. It served it's purpose though. It was right next to the venue and it was a good place to party.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

No personal campfires??? WTF is that all about???

Did this place have just one fire going???

indifferentman

They had one big fire pit in the middle. The way these people organized things (if you could call it that) is to pack in as many tents as possible! No nice properly sectioned off and separated sites like a real campground. Just open space and people had tents 2 or 3 ft apart from each other. I don't think there would have been space for personal campfires.