Five Lessons Learned from Camping in the Rain

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In Ontario, the first Monday in August is a Civic Holiday, where I am located. For the second year in a row I headed over to Tobermory, which is located in the Bruce Peninsula. When I went last year I fell in LOVE with the crystal clear water and the beautiful hue of the lake.

This year, I wanted the FULL Tobermory experience and managed to get a camp spot at Bruce Peninsula National Park via Parks Canada. Leading up to the weekend the forecast seemed favourable but on the day of we saw it called for a full weekend of rain. It rained ALL WEEKEND LONG, it rained so hard I could barely get any pictures in without my camera getting ruined. 

Here are the five lessons I learned from front-country camping in the rain:

1. Buy tarps and ropes to create a shelter from the rain. Include this step as part of your camp set-up!

   • Tarps come in all sizes and are super useful on the campground! They can protect you from the rain, they can be used to keep the bottom of your tent clean while outlining your camp spot, they can be used as a mat to place your gear as you’re packing your belongings away, they can be used as a patch to keep the rain coming in from the tent -- the list continues! 

2. Bring tools for your setup and tear down.

   • Bring your hammer (or a multi-purpose tool with a hammer), axe, step ladder, multi-purpose tool. We could have totally used the stepladder to help us putting up the ropes for the tarp and the multipurpose tool to open packaging and screw on screws for the new grill we failed to assemble prior!

3. Bring a minimum of two pairs of shoes.

   • For the next trip, I need to buy hiking boots so I can wear those even if it’s raining and avoid getting my running shoes soaked. That way I can slip into a dry pair of shoes always.

4. Buy some dry-bags!

   • These powerful bags keep all your belongings DRY and thats the best part about them! These bags come super handy when you have to transfer your belongings from the car to the tent (or vice versa).

5. Make some or buy firestarters!

   • I did not realize how important this was until we were soaked, cold, and unable to start the fire due to how damp everything was. Parks Canada does offer these where they sell their firewood or you can make some at home! I found some cool DIY recipes here and here.