How to Camp in a Tent When It’s Raining

Choose your campsite carefully. Pick the highest ground on your site as the place for your tent. In the midst of trees is best.

 

Set up your tent. Put your tent up as you normally would.

 

Tie your tarp over your tent. Tie twine onto each corner of your tarp and on two sides across from each other in the middle. It must be long enough to tie around the nearby trees. Make sure it is tied higher in the center, from the sides, than on the corners, but it must be taut and not touch the material of your tent.

 

Dig a ‘moat’. Eyeball where the water would fall from the tarp and dig a trench around the tent, so the water doesn’t run under your tent. Then dig a drain-off canal to drain the water away from the tent as it fills up. If you are camping with kids, they will probably love this activity. If not, it usually doesn’t take very long for an adult to dig it.

 

Save your embers. You can keep the coals of your campfire going by putting a makeshift tent of foil over it, until the downpour subsides.

 

If you should forget the tarp. The main thing to remember is: NEVER TOUCH THE FABRIC OF YOUR TENT WHILE IT IS RAINING. Tents are designed to keep rain out. But once you touch the material, all bets are off. You attract the water to run through the fabric where you touch it. My son learned that the hard way. It started raining while he was sleeping and he rolled to the side of the tent and rested against the wall. In the morning, he and his sleeping bag were soaked, and he was not a ‘happy camper’.

 

Dry your tent before taking it down. This will extend the life of your tent, and keep it from getting moldy. If you have to take it down, at least open it in your garage or outside when you get home and let it dry. Follow these steps and your camping trip will survive the rainstorm.