Mud and puddles meet Craven-goers on Wednesday

By the time the gates to the camping area opened on Wednesday afternoon, there were already trucks and campers lined up in both directions on Highway 20.

The gates were closed after only two hours on Tuesday because of heavy rain.

Several people had to wait around because of the hiccup but even they were in good spirits. Diane Anderson was in line over an hour to get through the gates on Wednesday.

“I normally come out on the first day the gates open. When they opened on Sunday I was here on Sunday.”

Anderson has been coming to the festival since the 1980s, though she took a break when it briefly became ‘Rock in the Valley’. She doesn’t mind having to line up, she said she actually enjoyed them when she used to be able to line up on the Sunday.

After making it through the gates the trucks and campers split up to find their places in the sprawling camp grounds. The sun was shining Wednesday and it may have tricked some people into thinking the area was dry – some got stuck in the mud.

Chris Olson’s big white truck and huge trailer got stuck heading into the campground.

“Just drove in, and you see people going through here but the trailer’s pretty heavy, and it didn’t make it.”

Olson’s brother-in-law was hooking up a chain to get them out. He wasn’t the first to get stuck there though. Daryl Taylor did the same thing a few minutes before, and getting out cost him a bit of the shine on his truck.

“I came in clean, and got stuck a little big, and (now) we’re covered in mud.”

If past years have been any indication, by the end of the weekend Taylor’s mud-caked truck and trailer will likely blend in with everything else at the festival.