A rooftop tent can completely transform your experience camping in the rain. Previously, we covered the basics of preparing to camp in the rain. In this post, James Baroud ambassador David Gonzalez contrasts his experience camping in the rain with and without a rooftop tent.
Last spring, as my younger son was finishing up graduate school at the University of Minnesota, he and his wife finally amassed enough expertise to host the rest of my children and me at the Boundary Waters. This place is not for the faint of heart. With over one million remote, rugged acres of boreal forest and 1,100 lakes, this wilderness area extends nearly 150 miles along the boundary between the United States and Canada in northeastern Minnesota. It is composed of lakes, islands, rocky outcrops, and hardened outdoor adventurers seeking portage – the act of carrying a boat or other watercraft and camping gear overland to get to another body of water.
The Boundary Waters creates its own weather. Our 5.5-hour drive from Minneapolis began with predawn darkness, was followed by an expansive sunrise filled with pinks, and then evolved from wispy-clouded blue skies into angry water-burdened clouds. As we entered the wilderness area, that burden gave way to a light drizzle. By the time we climbed into our canoes for a nearly four-hour paddle to our first night’s campsite, the drizzle had swollen into torrents. We all had rain gear, but there was so much rain falling that our canoes became carafes and our backpacks – sitting on the floor of our canoes – became sponges. We arrived at our campsite soaked and disheartened. Summer sausage and cheddar cheese took the edge off, but we could not get a campfire started from the drenched debris lying about the campsite, the only fuel allowed. Our tents, which were already wet from the paddle out, were now pitched and soaking through from the bottom, thereby sidestepping their rainfly’s purpose completely. Our fingertips were pruned. Our demeanors were deflated. We retired early with dehydrated meals in our bellies and the hope of warmth from our hot water filled Nalgenes nestled within our sleeping bags. But the warmth never came, and the night felt like three.
Image courtesy of David Gonzalez: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Image courtesy of David Gonzalez: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Fortunately, we awoke to blaring sunshine and greedily soaked up every erg of UV radiation. After breaking camp, we embarked on a long and perspiration-inducing paddle in tee-shirts and sunscreen to our next night’s campsite. We laid out all our gear to dry while ravenously finishing the summer sausage and cheese. The weather reversal was so very welcome, and the remainder of our time in the Boundary Waters was drenched in sunshine, not rain. However, the chilling wetness of that first day and night still lingers in our collective memory of that outdoor adventure.
Image courtesy of David Gonzalez: Sunny Sunrise
After my rooftop tent
Fast forward a few months and I realize I am excited to try out my James Baroud Odyssey in similarly torrential conditions. Surely, the hard-shell top and bottom, plus water-repellent and thermally insulated tent material in between, would render rain superfluous, right? So, I planned a dispersed camping adventure in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, in October, with a forecasted 85 percent chance of rain showers – the perfect test scenario! The plan included staying one night at Keechelus Lake just east of Snoqualmie Pass and then two nights at South Fork Snoqualmie River just west of Snoqualmie Pass. Unpredictable weather left me with unexpected sunshine and heavily dripping trees from earlier rains. Unpredictable online information left me with a gate closure at Keechelus Lake, citing an invasive species furlough through 2025. I could drive no closer to my planned first night’s abode. So instead, I parked along the Palouse to Cascades Trail and ambled on down the path for a couple miles east to see what I would be missing that night. I did not amble far enough to see any dispersed campsites and the trail was far enough from the lake to avoid being included in the furlough, but I saw enough of the uniquely compelling “stump lake” landscape to be disappointed I could not camp there this time, and to plan a return one day.
Image courtesy of David Gonzalez: Parked Along the Palouse to Cascade Trail
Plan B was pressed into service. I headed towards South Fork Snoqualmie River to stay all three nights but decided to explore the terrain on both sides of Interstate 90 before ferreting out the perfect campsite. I was richly rewarded. A wonderfully maintained wooden bridge greeted me on the way to Denny Creek Campground, which was closed for the winter, but that did not keep me from exploring the campsites and the setting for future reference. Denny Creek feels remote. The namesake creek offers a soothing background melody, yet it’s very close to I-90 and North Bend, WA, so it’s not really remote at all. I also made my way to Annette Lake Trail on the opposite side of I-90 to the South, marking it for a future hike.
Image courtesy of David Gonzalez: South Fork Snoqualmie River
Feeling a bit anxious about finding a first-come, first-served dispersed campsite as the day wore on, I pointed my truck towards South Fork Snoqualmie River. The first campsite was occupied. The second, perched above Tinkham Rd, was available but seemed too close to the road and too exposed. I was hoping for seclusion. Then I came across a very narrow gap in the forest. I could not see to the end as it went around the corner to the left, nor could I tell whether it was occupied, but I turned in anyway. Tense, I drove slowly, hoping to give anyone who might be camping in the spot time to head me off before the turn, but nobody did. I rounded the corner, and the gap opened. I was greeted by a perfect little grotto with room to orient my truck and Odyssey on the most level spot, right where other campers might place their tents. I found my temporary residence.
Image courtesy of David Gonzalez: South Fork Snoqualmie River
Shockingly, the rain held. There was a lengthy enough break in the menacing Cumulonimbus clouds to set up my terrestrial kitchen and celestial bedroom, and to rehydrate another dehydrated meal, before darkness fell and the heavens opened. Methodically, with my waterproof shell on, I did my dishes and tidied the kitchen before climbing into my dry perch for the evening. Upon entering, I was struck by the cacophony. No doubt, a tent makes a sound when rained upon, but the fabric of a rainfly dramatically dampens a raindrop’s energy. The sound is like an orchestral concert with oboes and violins playing the melody. There are no drums, or staccato brass, just smooth interwoven chords. But my Odyssey, with its UV coated ABS shell, is a rock concert in a rainstorm. The thick tree canopy above, with its vertical strata of pine needles and broad leaves, created a huge distribution of water drop sizes and speeds. When these drops released their energies onto the Odyssey shell, it was thunderous, demanding my attention. It had it. And what my attentiveness realized was that I was toasty warm and perfectly dry throughout the rainy night, with the rock concert settling into a rhythm I could enjoy. Unlike our Boundary Waters adventure, my Odyssey does render rain superfluous! If only I could fit my three children and one daughter-in-law into my rooftop tent, we could all heal psychologically.
Pro Tip
If you have a wedge rooftop tent such as our James Baroud Discovery or Space, you can leverage our Rain Shade to prevent rain and moisture from entering the tent when the door is open. The James Baroud Rain Shade’s transparent material lets natural light in, keeping the tent bright and airy while providing protection from the elements. It is built with durable aluminum tubing instead of steel cables, so it stays secure and silent—no flapping, no rattling, just peace and comfort.
David Gonzalez is a tech veteran with 30+ years of experience applying his physics, computer science, and business prowess to helping early-stage companies innovate and accelerate across numerous industries including handwriting and voice recognition, mortgages, renewable energy, storm water management and mental health.
Intermingled amongst these professional endeavors, David is also a family man. While devoted to his wife of 30+ years and his three uniquely insightful and grown children, he remains an avid athlete, favoring soccer, cycling, skiing, tennis, hiking and any opportunity to get the family into the wild.
David’s ideal evening? That’d be sitting around a campfire with his family, eating from rehydrated food pouches and regaling each other with tales of greatness from the day.
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