Camping in a storm

Context

Cyclone Amy hit Sweden between October 3 – 5, 2025. The SMHI had issued red alerts, which included the risk of tree fall, strong winds and heavy rainfall. Ignoring all these warnings, I decided to camp in the woods. I took the risk due to the following reasons:

• I had decided that date at least two months ago. I had no other weekends left !
• The weather was getting colder, and the nights were growing longer.
• Camping during rainfall was on my list for at least a decade, so I decided to take the chance.

A friend had committed a month ago to join me. He was having second thoughts as the weather deteriorated but thankfully, he remained resolute.

Plan

The goal was to merely stay in the woods during rainfall, and return the next afternoon, post-lunch.

Execution

We drove to a nature reserve, and reached its parking lot around 1500. The walk to the camping spot was around 2 km. It went through woods and by the lake shore. I realized the upcoming ordeal as the wind and rain hit my raincoat and backpack. My backpack weighed around 17 kg.

Challenge: Keeping the tents dry.

Our first challenge after reaching the camping spot was to pitch a tent without drenching its interior. I was able to pitch my 1-person tent without much water entering it.

Pitching my friend’s tent proved to be a hard nut to crack because:

• He had bought a new tent, and neither of us had made a dry run of it.
• It was a large(3-4 person) tent. Its footprint and the shape were broader and longer.
• The pouring rain and chilling winds made the instructions difficult to read, understand and follow.
• We fiddled for 15 min. but then decided to go by our gut. We took another 40 min. to pitch the tent but by then, our fear manifested – the tent was soaked from the inside.

We had the following options:

• Abort. Pack-up, and rush home.
• Try to dry the tent enough to be usable for the night.
• My friend would abort, I stay alone.

This is where my friend’s bravery saved the day – we decided to dry the tent. It was past 1630, and it was getting dark. We raced to the parking lot(2 km), grabbed some dry cloth sheets, and rushed back to the camping spot( so around 6 km walking since 1500 !).

We struggled a bit but within 20 minutes but were able to soak all the water that had accumulated on the tent’s floor. It was around 1750.

Once the sleeping arrangements felt adequate, it was time to relax(?) a bit. I had brought my stove as I was fully aware that making fire was only a faint possibility. We prepared tea, the Indian style!

It was dark by 1900. My friend retired to his tent due to cold feet and chills.

We decided to have a quick dinner. It was a hiker’s dehydrated meal pouch. We again used the stove to boil the water, and added it to the pouches. I was wearing my rain clothes, hence, I rested my butt on the ground in my friend’s tent’s vestibule. This was the first instance where I missed a not having enough room in my tent.

Challenge: Making fire.

Around 1915, I attempted to make a bonfire. I failed miserably even after persisting for an hour. The fireplace was soggy, the wood I carried had taken some water, the winds didn’t let up even for a minute, and rains poured. I still managed to burn all the 4 wood pieces but they failed to provide any warmth. My friend enjoyed viewing my futile attempts from his tent 😂😂😂.

I, too, decided to retire by 2020. I took a quick leak, and created the following video to highlight the additional challenge – the darkness!!

Challenge: Lack of storage space!

While I was aware of the fact that my 1-person tent provides almost no storage, and its vestibules remain partially exposed,  the rainfall demanded extra storage(shielded from the rains) space for:

• Wet clothes.
• Shoes.
• Backpack.

I had no choice but to leave these items in the vestibules. While the shoes, rain jacket and rain trousers had protected me to a large extent, water still found its way to partially wet my legs, back and hands. The obsession of being out of the tent till late evening took a toll – my body was now aching due to the cold, and I was shivering a bit.

Nevertheless, I soon fell asleep, because after years, I was not alone during autumn camping.

Challenge: Protecting food

I woke up around 0200 as my phone rang. My friend was getting apprehensive because he could hear some small animal trying to tear the food packets we had. I had experienced such intrusions for years and asked him to go back to sleep 😴😴😴. The next morning, our leftover pouches sealed in plastic bags were found torn!

Result

We were up by 0630. My body was slightly sore, and it was still pretty cold(3-4 degree celsius). The rain had stopped, so had the wind. We were so exhausted that we decided to pack-up and leave. A large spider had made itself at home in my socks/shoes.

While grossly underprepared and tired, the experience had boosted our confidence and ambitions. We left with a list of items to be bought, and drills to be undertaken before the next camping in the rains 🙂 .

Lessons Learnt

The partial list:

• Practise thoroughly the basics e.g.: pitching tent quickly, securing a dry zone.
• Avoid starting the walking/camping in the afternoon/daylight left is less than 3h.
• Even at the cost of bearing extra weight, carry a tarp. It would give a quick dry zone which can be used to assemble the tent’s innermost layer.
• Keep the tarp up even later, and use it for storing backpack or at least the wet clothes and shoes.
• Practise taking a dump with rain clothes on !