Tent Camping and The Weather...

[Smokey Mtn. Camper]

Hey, I just wanted to get the feedback from this esteemed forum regarding tent camping and how everyone deals with the BAD weather. For years, we would camp and not even use a rainfly because there was no chance it would rain. However, now it seems all it does is rain when I camp.

Dont get me wrong, for the most part, we are extremely prepared for inclimate weather including high winds. My family and I are experienced at camping in the south where extremes seem to be the norm. The part that is starting to naw at me is the constant storms that roll thru whatever campground I seem to be camping at. I am talking "frog stranglers" not just typical summer thunderstorms. The kind that dumps 1-2 inches of rain in a hour or so.

Take this past weekend...the weather report said 20% of rain on Friday and my campground got 2.15 inches in a lil over and hour. No big deal, we stayed dry and the kids took a nap after a 6 mile hike. On Saturday, another 20% and my campground got 1.39 inches (these amounts were posted at the rangers station) in a 45 minute storm with winds that gusted to 40mph. Thats over 3.5 inches of rain in lil over a 24 hour period.
This marks the 7th, yes, the 7th strainght time I have camped in either heavy thunderstoirms of heavy snow! :eek: It has become sorta a inside joke within my family.

I guess my question to this forum is how often do you guys deal with bad weather? I seem to be a lightening rod for my area, pun intended, when it comes to bringing bad weather. My camp stayed dry except for my bright idea of relocating our dining canopy. During the worst of the storm the water was runing through our dining canopy about 6 inches deep. Only thing that got wet was the screen that surrounds it but I felt pretty stupid for not realizing I "moved" the canopy to the lowest point in my freakin camp...:D

Please tell me others are dealing with these heavy storms and it just aint me. Dont get me wrong, mother nature wont discourage us from camping. Heck, we are use to it by now but I sure would like to have just one 3-4 day camping adventure without the added burden of dealing with heavy rain and high winds. Thanks for allowing me to vent. I am now going outside to put the finishing touches on my "camping Ark".

[Bigdog57]

We have held five annual motorcycle camping meets now, in mid-January. Still chilly here in Florida then, though daytimes can be comfortable. Nights getcold - mid twenties - then at least one night it will ALWAYS rain! Rain at 30-odd degrees - burrrrr....!
All except the last outing, a riding buddy would bring his little teardrop trailer, and put a tri-pod tarp shelter over it, and I could tuck the front half of my 3-man dome tent under it - pretty good rain protection!
Last January, he was ill so could not attend. I ended up sleeping that rainy night with my bike on the concrete pad under the roofed shelter! "Slept with my horse" as I told another buddy! :D
I now have a better two-man tent, and a cheap but tight Ozark Trails light-weight canopy shelter - probably set it up over my tent this next time, unless I have my soon-to-be-acquired Scamp miniTT ready! Then I will sleep in comfort! Dang - gonna risk losing my reputation for being a tough minimalist....!

[renodesertfox]

There ain't no such thing as bad weather! For us, die-hard luxury Kodiak Tent Campers, the weather is just different! Deal with it or quit camping, by cracky!:D Go 'n' camp with BD he's gettin a TT. Phooey!

We've pitched camp in rain, in snow, in very strong winds, in dust storms, and we've stricken down camp in the same, just learn to do setup and tear-down in different ways. When I was going through Ranger school in the Army, the first thing I was taught was to BE FLEXIBLE!!:eek: I have even pitched camp on crutches and even from a wheel-chair(though Desert Rose) she did all the work then. Now with repaired back and a plastic custom-built knee brace I just gotta camo my mug and I'm ready for campin!

[Bigdog57]

Brent, come out to the Deep South! Been raining here daily for a couple months! Yep, gotta be 'flexible'!
I will still tent camp mostly, but the heat here is the excursion killer, not the rain. Wish we had the 'dry heat' y'all have out that way - here, it'll be 103 degrees, then a hard rain driving temps down to high 80's, then it climbs to the high 90's or triple digits again, with high humidty - we get 'steam cooked'....... :rolleyes:

[renodesertfox]

I had enough of the deep south when I was stationed at Camp Swampy(Ft. Stewart). Yeah, it's nice for about two months then whammy! No thanks...If we lived there I'd get a TT for sure! Next to un-leashed dogs at a campground it's humidity I can't stand!