Backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in GA. Settled into my tent with two buddies. I took a direct lightning strike inside the tent. They were three feet from me and didn’t get popped. Tent disintegrated. Legs messed up, couldn’t walk. Soaked by the storm. Somehow crawled/hopped into a ravine at lower elevation and slept there that night in a sopping wet sleeping bag.
Got struck on Blood Mountain….how about that?
Lightening strikes in the mountains, particularly when you're exposed above tree-line, is a danger that people who aren't familiar with mountain storms often don't even know to plan for. I carry a bamboo walking stick when we hike above tree-line in Colorado, as the aluminum alloy trekking poles that many people favor can act like lightening rods in that environment.
The ex and I were walking the bluffs near the sea caves at Meyers Beach on Superior's south shore. We had stopped at a Gander in Wausau on our way up, and she'd bought an aluminum hiking staff.
Big thunderstorm was rolling in fast, and the lightning was close enough to be a real concern. She began moving almost carelessly fast trying to get off the bluffs and back to the Suburban. She looked back at me and yelled, "Can't you keep up?" I yelled back that "I maybe could, but you're the one carrying the lightning rod"...
If I had a pic of her face, right then...
