How to Stay Dry when Camping:

Getting wet while camping can ruin your whole trip. Waking up in the middle of the night to a flooded tent is no fun. Flooded-out campers usually go home wet, tired, and unhappy.

There is absolutely no reason for this to happen. You can camp in any weather and enjoy it, even in a downpour. You just need to know a few secrets about staying dry.

Pitch your tent in the right area

Watch where you pitch your tent. There are telltale signs on the ground that point out where water naturally runs during a rainstorm.

When it rains, little rivulets flow downhill in miniature streams. Along the way, they collect pine needles, silt, and other debris. When the ground dries out, you can see the sediment deposited in V-shaped accumulations, all pointing downstream. Also, pine needles and debris accumulate where water once ran, especially above those V-shaped areas. Survey the ground before pitching your tent and avoid these areas.

Even in standing water pine needles and debris tend to accumulate. When the ground dries out, what was once a small pond becomes a bed of pine needles. Campers see this bed of pine needles and figure that would be a nice comfortable place to pitch a tent. If it rains, those campers are in for a rude awakening.

Learn the art of the tarp

First, pitch your tent on a tarp that is slightly smaller than your tent floor to prevent water from running off under your tent and to keep your tent floor up off the damp ground.

Buy a large tarp that will cover your tent side-to-side from the ground, over the top, to the ground on the other side. It should also cover front-to-back, sticking out at least 2 - 3 feet past your rainfly (not past the just the tent). This may seem excessive, but in a downpour this will keep the inside of your tent totally dry. You can even leave your tent and come back hours later, assured that your tent will stay dry.

Note: Do not use a plastic painter's drop cloth. It does not breathe, and water will condense under it just like in a hothouse. Your entire tent will get wet. If your tent does get wet, don't touch the insides of the tent. Where you touch, the tent will leak.

Buy a lot of twine to tie your tarp down. You will need a tree or pole (a dead branch or small dead tree will do) in the front of your tent. A second tree or pole in the back is helpful, but you can get by without it.

Tie down all sides of the tarp. Be sure to stretch out the tarp as tight as possible without ripping the stakes out of the ground. A hint on stakes: point them away from the tent for a more secure anchor. Make sure there are no pockets on the tarp where water can accumulate.

Put something waterproof underneath your sleeping bag.

When it is pouring outside, a sleeping bag lying directly on your tent floor is asking for trouble. If the natural condensation doesn't dampen your cozy sleeping place, water seeping through the top and sides may. Using a tarp as described above will keep water from leaking in through the top and sides. But you still need to be concerned about the floor.

Even if you have pitched your tent in a good spot and have a tarp stretched out over your entire tent (see above), occasionally water may run off and end up underneath your tent. To avoid getting your sleeping bag wet, put a sleeping pad of some sort underneath it. This may seem like overkill to you, but when it comes to keeping your sleeping bag dry in a hard rain, each step you take might be the one thing that keeps you dry.

Clothing

Carry a poncho in your vehicle and put it in a spot you can easily reach, in case you get to your camping spot and it's raining.

Wear rain gear - either a poncho or a rain jacket and pants. A poncho is easy to slip on and off, but your lower legs can get wet. If you need to be out in the rain for a long time, a rain jacket and pants is the way to go.

If for some reason you forgot your poncho, use a large garbage bag. Invert the garbage bag and cut holes for your arms and head. When taking a hike on a nice sunny summer day, it's a good idea to put a garbage bag in your back pocket just in case it rains.

Especially in a warm rain, you might want to walk or play in the rain without protective rain gear. This is fine, but a word of warning. Don't let yourself chill. People can go into hypothermia quickly, even in a warm rain. Know the signs of hypothermia.

Also, if your clothes get totally wet, don't change into dry clothes, get them wet, change into more dry clothes, get them wet, and so on. Soon all of your dry clothes will be wet. It takes a long, long time to dry clothes out when it's raining.

If you follow all of these guidelines, your tent will stay dry and so will you. So grab a good book and settle down in your cozy tent and listen to the wonderful sound of the rain.