Atop the Blomidon bluff on the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia sits Blomidon Provincial Park. It is a gem of a park providing fantastic views and wonderful hikes, but the location and elevation makes it very exposed to the weather.

My wife, myself, our three month old baby boy and two bassett hounds were camping at Blomidon last August, and we can testify to the wettest August on record. We had planned to stay for the whole month, but one night the skies opened up--sending us scrambling to get the dogs in the car and the rest of us in our tent. Sheltered in our Frontenac, we watched our campfire submerge and float away into the forest on the new river that swelled from the road and into our campsite. Thankfully, we all weathered the storm just a little damp, but realized in the morning that our camping trip was at an end. The dining tent and its contents were drenched, the ground spongy, and the sky still very grey. In our younger years we would have soldiered on, but wet dogs and a baby certainly set new limits on what you can endure.

We hope for better weather this year, and plan to bring big tarps just in case.