For some, a rainstorm is a scary thing, adding unnecessary trial and tribulation to an otherwise spectacular camping trip.
Here are some of my favorite every day camping in the rain hacks to survive the wet seasons, thunderstorms, and lulls in mood that the rain can bring. Stay safe and dry out there!
Hacks for managing Rainy Moods
These easy hacks will help you to enjoy your rainy camping time, don’t worry you will have fun if you follow them.
Light it up!
When the rain is making you feel sad or down, string up some lights to help lighten up the mood and bring back the optimism and cheer. It’s amazing how far some luminescence will go. You can even get some party string lights. Some lights are solar powered, so if you’ve powered them up during the sunny daytime, you can use them when it’s cloudy or dark.
Party it up!
When the mood breaks up, campers tend to isolate themselves in their tent with books or phones or video games, preparing for an early bedtime.
To get everyone’s mood back up, simply bring them all back together in someplace warm and dry with the promise of fun. Pull out some travel-friendly board or card games to get the camping party back on track.
Comfort food time
Food, especially comfort food, can go a long way. When the mood drops, pull out something that’s comforting but also nutritious to help everyone’s energy levels and also their spirits. Food is especially great during a game time together. Don’t forget that a warm, hot meal or snack will go a long way, especially when it’s rainy.
Hacks for getting Dry and managing the Wet
Managing the wet that the rain brings and keeping yourself and your things dry is one of the main essentials in camping when the rain is present.
Which clothes to wear and not to wear
This is one of the most important camping in the rain hacks that you should consider. An easy way to manage being wet from the rain is to not get wet in the first place. Always bring a rain poncho in case a sudden storm whips up. You can also get rain pants or gaiters, so that simply walking around won’t get your clothes wet from puddles, dew, or anything else that got rained on.
When you go camping with the slightest possibility of rain, don’t wear cotton clothing. Or if you do and it looks like it might rain, change out of it. Cotton clothing loses its insulation properties when its wet, so this is an easy way to get hypothermia quickly.
Layers, layers, layers
When it’s wet or cold, layering is an important strategy. Did you just brush against a bush that’s wet and now your clothes are damp? Just change out of those layers and put on some new, dry clothes.
Drying clothing
There really aren’t any laundry facilities in the wilderness, and hanging clothes around a fire to dry isn’t an option because of the rain. That leaves you with a few clever options:
- You can take the wet items and place them in the corners of your sleeping bag. While you sleep, your insulated bed will keep you warm with your own body heat, but also slowly heat and dry out wet clothing.
- Do not sleep in your wet clothing
- You can hang up your wet items in your tent, especially your tent’s vestibule. They’ll dry out eventually.
- Bring newspaper and stuff it inside the wet or damp items. It will suck out the moisture, like the old rice trick for electronics.
Linings
Bring some trash bags, grocery bags, or at least freezer-size Ziploc baggies. You can use them to line things like your backpack, so that everything inside stays nice and dry.
Your tent in the rain
Your tent is where you will be sleeping, so it’s super important that you are able to sleep safely and soundly through the night. Here are some hacks that I picked up:
- Before you go on your trip, purchase a water-proofing kit and use it on your tent. Most tents actually aren’t already waterproofed.
- When the ground beneath your tarp is wet, put down a tarp as the ‘floor’ of your tent.
- Weigh down your tarps corners with rocks or other heavy items. This also protects your grommets – the little metal corner holes – from any wind that will try to flap your tarp around or even steal it away. Once the grommets are gone, the tarp needs to be replaced.
- If you don’t have a tarp and the ground is wet, put something, anything between the ground and your sleeping bag. That cold, wet ground will be sucking out your body heat all night, and you could put yourself in a potentially dangerous situation of losing too much body heat to the ground. The best things to use are things that are waterproof, like plastic. If you don’t have that, anything else you can find would be better than nothing at all.
- After your camping trip, be sure to dry out all your equipment before storing it. Otherwise it will get mold and mildew.
Do your homework
Not so much as a hack as a must-do, but the importance of these things makes it worth mentioning.
- Make sure that you know the signs and symptoms of hypothermia and how to treat it.
- Understand the signs that a lightning storm is coming, what to do, where to take shelter, and also where not to take shelter.
- Know the weather cues for an impending storm, and which type of storm that it will be. Checking the forecast before your trip helps a little bit, but it’s not very good at predicting sudden storms that can come out of nowhere.
Hacks for managing the Cold from the Rain
You should always take care of your body temperature and stay warm all the time.
Sleep with your clothes
When it’s super cold outside, stuff tomorrow’s clothing into your sleeping bag before you go to bed. Your body heat will warm them up overnight, and it will be easier to get moving.
Cold hands and feet
If your hands get cold, try some hand warmer packs. They’re super cheap and small, so they’re easy to bring. Or, you could bring gloves. If your feet get cold, you can put some hand warmers in your shoes.
Water
Hydration is a vital factor that you should think about.
Hydration
It can be easy to forget to keep hydrated when it’s raining all around you. Remember to keep drinking water through your trip. Be sure not to substitute drinking water for sports drinks or other sugary substances. They are fine in moderation but really your body needs water.
Rain water
It can be neat to catch rainwater. Don’t use the water that touched anything like leaves, trees, or rocks. Only what fell out of the sky. If you have a water filtration kit, it can be fun to filter this water and put it back into your water bottles or canteens.
Camping in the Rain Hacks
I hope that your next camping trip goes great! Be sure to use these camping in the rain hacks the next time that you go out and enjoy the wilderness, large open spaces, and the fresh, open air.