Wildfire smoke, sudden downpours, and surprise park closures are rewriting the camping playbook—and we’re mapping a better way forward. From downbursts that flatten tree canopies to late-season black flies and fire bans that change by municipality, we share how our own trips have shifted and what actually works when conditions get weird. This is a practical, no-drama guide to staying safe, staying flexible, and still finding joy around the campfire when the rules of the outdoors keep changing.
We dig into the realities campers now face: how to check fire bans across jurisdictions, read air quality indexes before you roll, and build a safer camp when torrential rain hits. We talk fire hygiene that prevents smouldering root fires, smarter site selection that avoids flood paths, and the gear that holds up—tight rainflies, solid guylines, repair tape, and a pre-filled water bucket. You’ll also hear tips for navigating drought and water scarcity with reliable filtration, plus how to spot and treat heat exhaustion fast. On the wildlife front, we cover rising tick and mosquito activity, daily tick checks, and why a small removal kit can save a trip.
Planning is where resilience starts. We walk through creating Plan A, B, and C routes to dodge local smoke and storms, using Parks Canada and Ontario Parks updates, cross-checking municipal advisories, and leaning on weather and AQI tools for real-time decisions. We round it out with low-impact choices—carpooling when possible, rechargeable or solar lighting, battery recycling, and Leave No Trace habits—that reduce harm without killing the fun. Camping is still magic. With a flexible mindset and a few new skills, it’s not only possible—it’s better, because you’re ready.
If this helped, follow the show, share it with a camping friend, and leave a quick review so more outdoor lovers can find it. Got a pro tip or a story from a smoky or stormy trip? Tell us—we’d love to feature it next time.
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Episode Transcript
Hello and good day.
Welcome to the Super GoodCamping Podcast.
My name is Pamela.
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
I'm Tim.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
And we are from SupergoodCamping.com.
We're here because we're on amission to inspire other people
to get outside and enjoy campingadventures such as we have as a
family.
Today's episode we wanted totalk about camping in a changing
climate, how wildfire risk andweather extremes are changing
the way we go camping.
So we had a couple of stories,just um a couple of parks that
(00:24):
have been impacted by climateevents.
Uh there was a downburst at St.
Mel de Champlain that resultedin the closure of that park for
the whole 2025.
Just because of devastation.
Yeah, our friend Josie was justalso devastated by the
devastation.
It's her favorite park.
Yeah.
And then there's way less treesthan it used to.
(00:46):
Well, and there's been cullingof trees at other parks that
we've been to, and some ofthat's been for invasive species
and stuff, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Um and then but that's part of the well, I'm
getting ahead ourselves, butthat's part of the climate
change as well.
SPEAKER_00 (00:58):
Yeah, bugs that are thriving in the changing
environment.
And in 2025, there were 521wildfires in the province of
Ontario.
And that is not necessarily inprovincial parks, but we were
talking earlier about how thatdealt, despite it might not be
in the park you're camping at,the weather quality in the park
(01:18):
you're camping at is certainlyimpacted by it.
I mean, here in Toronto, we'reimpacted by the weather quality
from the wildfires.
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
Wildfire smoke for sure.
Yep, the planets burning.
Uh stop supporting fossil fuelcompanies.
Just saying.
Just saying.
There's my apologies.
Now we're gonna be in trouble.
Yeah, well, and if you can hearthe jackhammering in the
background, my my apologies.
(01:46):
We've got some clowns across theroad that think that uh working
on a Sunday is is fine anddisturbing everybody else.
And while we're recording apodcast, we're crying out loud.
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
Yeah, we've we've actually tried to work around
the noise across there, butthey've had saws going and now
jackhammers going.
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
Yes, no way, no way.
SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
And it every time we kind of sat down to record
something.
Uh yeah, so smokier skies, morefirebands, unpredictable
weather.
Those are kind of the shortversion of what you might
expect.
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
Yeah, and and you're you're gonna you're what we seem
to be finding, and certainly I Iwant to say a little like for
sure the last five, six, sevenyears, everything is just more
intense weather-wise, right?
Like, like we're hearing moreand more about these these
downbursts and micro bursts andstuff where you know it's uh
(02:37):
it's it's not a tornado oranything like that, but but it
it has that kind of verylocalized, limited sort of d
devastation.
I am don't come up.
I mean, if you ever get theopportunity to take a look at
some of the pictures that Josieuh actually took a bunch uh of
Samuel Dischamplain, and just Imean it it's flat.
I know that we get often getlike it seem it's seemingly
(03:02):
heavier rains.
Um just torrential downpoursthat like a like in a blink of
an eye, you know, and you're andyou're poof, you've got you know
fifty millimeters, seventy-fivemillimeters of rain in in a
literally a handful of hours.
And so flooding.
SPEAKER_00 (03:17):
Flash floods, you we can get um I mean if you're in a
tent when that's happening andwater's all flooding through
your campsite, you can expectyou're gonna be wet.
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
You'll be yeah, you'll be looking for a dryer in
the morning, or if you're in acampground, if you're you know
in the backwoods.
There's some wind to dry stuffup.
SPEAKER_00 (03:39):
Um yeah, so longer, more severe fire seasons, more
bands, more closures.
And I think we've certainly seenthat too with more fire bands.
We weren't sure when we went toeven to Georgian Bay whether we
were gonna have a fire band.
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
Yes, and I've gotten uh way better at figuring out
how to how to look up firebands.
So you go to the Ontario Parks,if you're in Ontario, uh go to
the Ontario Parks website forthat specific um park, they will
have whether there's a fire banin an effect, but also local
municipalities.
So I ended up looking, I'mpretty sure it was Georgian Bay
(04:14):
was actually the municipalitythat I I looked up to see what
their take on it is, becausemunicipalities in Ontario Parks
might not have the same, youknow, it's a slightly different
location, uh, whatever, right?
Fire regulations might vary.
So might vary.
Uh Ontario, uh the province ofOntario has different
regulations than a lot of themunicipalities do.
So they have a different thescale's the same, but they don't
(04:37):
necessarily apply it the same.
SPEAKER_00 (04:39):
Well, in this past summer we had such a dry, dry
summer.
So the forest then is drier,there's less water to put out
forest fires if there is aforest fire, um, less water
access, less water for you todrink, so you have to be careful
to make sure that you'refiltering water if you're
drinking from a lake or astream.
SPEAKER_01 (05:00):
Yeah.
Um and and it so things thatalso happen are if you have a
fire, right?
And it doesn't, you know, you'renot in a fireband location, it
doesn't necessarily mean thatyou're safe to have that fire.
And we've seen enough uh peoplenot practicing good fire
hygiene.
(05:22):
You know, like uh we've got so Inow have a collapsible bucket uh
that I fill immediately fillwith and put beside before I
even light the fire so that it'salready there, uh fill filled
with water.
Um but but there's uh becausewe're not getting enough rain or
as much rain, uh root systemsare quite dry.
And the so you get sort of youknow peat moss and and that sort
(05:44):
of jazz between the roots.
So if you have a fire, it canvery easily light all that.
All that it's I know it soundslike weird that just dirt
catches fire, but it does, it'sit's peat, it's loamy.
Um and and then and it can burnin the root system for ages.
You may think you have put thefire out, but come back and find
that an island's been burnt tothe ground to just stone because
(06:07):
there's no there wasn't enoughwater in the root system to keep
it from catching fire.
SPEAKER_00 (06:13):
Smouldering.
Doubs that make it closer downby fire soup.
SPEAKER_01 (06:17):
Yep, fire soup.
SPEAKER_00 (06:19):
Uh and yeah, so uh and outside of that, there's
changing biodiversity because ofthe change in the climate, so
different animal activity,worsening bugs.
So black flies, ticks,mosquitoes, they like the warmer
temperatures, the mosquitoeslike the those when you do get
that downfall and the watercan't drain away.
You've got more standing water,and then different seasons for
(06:43):
plants to grow or bloom or notgrow.
SPEAKER_01 (06:47):
Well, but uh but you mentioned black flies.
We so we went on a paddlingcourse in the spring.
Uh there were black flies andmosquitoes despite the cold
temperatures.
Uh, and we went again just backhere in September and into early
October, second round of blackflies.
I in my entire life don't everremember two rounds of black
(07:09):
flies in the year, just in thespring then.
SPEAKER_00 (07:10):
The first round's bad enough.
No, there were enough.
And then on top of that, so thepark itself might be undergoing
some infrastructure challengesjust because of the heavy rains
or wind or whatever is comingyour way.
So um, you might have washoutson the roads, you might have the
facilities are damaged.
Um so just also be aware of thatthat you might not be able to
(07:33):
access where you want to gobecause your road is washed out
or your the park has something'sbeen damaged because of the wind
or the rain.
SPEAKER_01 (07:44):
Yeah, I think I think probably the what it all
sort of heads towards is beingadaptable, being flexible with
your planning.
Don't just go with one plan.
I mean, I never do, but I'm alsoa bit of a whack job.
SPEAKER_00 (07:57):
So we love you for that.
SPEAKER_01 (07:59):
Yeah.
Yeah, plan the plan the crap outof it.
Make sure you've got alternateavailabilities for, you know, if
you're going somewhere whereyou're six hours away from where
you are now, it just you canread all you want.
It may not quite sink in whatyou're about to be dealing with
because it's so different fromwhere you are, uh, you know, uh
(08:20):
in a weather way.
SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
Yeah, that's like here in Toronto.
If you're driving three or fourhours north, the weather can be
entirely different from whatwe're getting.
Uh monitor conditions.
So the Park Canada does have anapp.
So if it's a pro if it's anational park, uh you can use
Parks Canada app.
But um Ontario Parks do not havean app, so you just need to
(08:42):
check their website, um, use theair quality index, um, like
weather network, things likethat will give you the air
quality index, they'll give youthe bug report as well, and and
check local news before you goand just be prepared.
So use the SCOS Canada model, beprepared, that you've got you've
got your waterproof gear, justespecially if there's
predictions during your tripthat there's gonna be some
(09:04):
weather.
You've got sun protection,you've got layers because the
width, the temperature ischanging.
Uh, you also, as far as um yourgear, want to make sure that you
know your gear will hold up toheavy rains or wind if needy.
SPEAKER_01 (09:19):
Yeah, and try not to try not to contribute to the
climate change.
And um yes, you know, fossilfuels bad.
Uh as much as anything, what youdo when you're camping, you
know, tr try to do the practice,leave no trace.
Um echo-friendly gear, you know,solar lights.
Uh, so you're not batteriesgreat.
(09:42):
If you if you live in mybuilding, your batteries get
recycled.
If you don't live in mybuilding, your batteries end up
in the garbage.
Uh don't do that.
Which is terrible for the car.
It's it's horrible.
It's the leaching of mercury andstuff into the it's it's a
personal pet piece.
Um, you know, reduce your carbonfootprints.
Don't which we as a as a campingcommunity are terrible at
(10:04):
because we all very seldomcarpool and and we drive long
distances in not environmentallyfriendly vehicles, generally big
ass trucks.
We all have to get EVs.
unknown (10:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:18):
Uh well, and so health and fix safety, if you do
happen to be camping in extremeweather, um, stay hydrated,
especially with with the heatand the and the dry conditions.
Um, try to stay in the shade ifyou can.
Try to recognize the signs ifyou somebody in your party is
suffering from heat exhaustion.
Um, so if they're sweatingprofusely, if they're but their
(10:40):
skin feels cool and clammy,they've got a fast or weak
pulse, they're having musclecramps, headaches, nausea, or
extreme thirst, all of that, orthey just seem a bit out of it.
Sometimes that's all you'llnotice is that they seem like
they're not really all there.
SPEAKER_01 (10:54):
You're saying I'm suffering from it all the time.
unknown (10:57):
No.
SPEAKER_00 (10:58):
Um smoke exposure-wise, so N95 masks, air
filters in your RVs, monitoringthe air quality index before you
leave, especially if you've gotsomebody who's susceptible in
your party.
So you know that your child oror somebody suffers from asthma,
that unfortunately you may meancanceling your trip because they
can't be out there breathing thewildfire smoke.
(11:19):
Uh flood awareness, so pitchingyour tents in the appropriate
spot so you're not on thedownside of your site because
that's the low part is the placewhere the water's gonna settle.
We've unfortunately seen thatbefore.
And uh just also being aware ofinsect-borne illness.
So um increasing uh tick andmosquito activity with the
warmer and especially if it'smoister weather, is gonna mean
(11:42):
more bugs.
And so tick inspections just tomake sure nobody's carrying a
tick around.
And carry tick kit with you.
Tick kit to and tick carefultick removal because if you
preserve the tick and then youcan send it to public health,
then they can check it for Lymedisease, just so that that way
you know if if unfortunately youwere bitten by a tick, you know
whether it's one that's bearingLyme disease.
(12:04):
And and you can certainly wearyour protective bug gear.
Uh and then otherwise, we justwanted to kind of summarize that
you can still camp, even thoughclimate change is happening.
Uh, it can still be enjoyable,but you have to be adaptable and
wear and prepared for it.
Um, and then just check yourlocal parks to see whether they
(12:25):
do have any climate adaptationprograms or even just
educational programs.
Um, it would be great to takeyour kids to an educational
program about how climate changemight affect camping or things
that we can do to mitigateclimate change.
And that's it for me.
So thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (12:41):
Which is me as well.
SPEAKER_00 (12:43):
That's it for us for today.
Thank you so much for listening.
Please do tune in again soon,and you can reach out to us on
all of the social media.
We are everywhere, and we wouldlove to hear from you.
And if you want to email us, weare at hi at
supergatecampaign.com.
That's H I atSupergitCampaign.com.
And we will talk to you againsoon.
Bye.
Bye.
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