Mark Gruchy of St. John’s says he never played the lottery. But after the experience he and his family had on a camping trip in Nova Scotia this week, he might want to think about it. Gruchy was camping at the Kejimkujik National Park site with his wife, Leah, and their daughter, Charlotte. They set up about three kilometers from the end of Kejimkujik Lake. A special weather statement issued by Environment Canada called for thunderstorms on the first day of their trip, he said, but it was nothing they weren’t prepared for. That was until about 5:30 Thursday afternoon, when the rain intensified dramatically and lightning began to flash in line with their scene just a few kilometers away. “The whole event unfolded in less than 10 minutes and went from no rain to a torrential downpour,” Gruchy said Friday. “That caused me quite a bit of concern. You never think anything will happen, though.” The family retreated to their tent and did their best to keep their members out of the woods. He said the lightning passed right over them — so close that the thunder and lightning caused a physical reaction. “The thunder was really painful. It was so loud. It really hurt our ears. And I felt a very sharp pain in my right leg, especially in my right foot. All I remember saying is that I felt this, I said it out loud.” , Gruchy said. “Leah, she had her hand up to her chest and she looked like she was in discomfort. The next thing I remember, and we both have different interpretations of it, but to me it was like the rain had stopped. There was no Sound coming from the rain now. I thought I could hear other things, including my own voice when I spoke.” Mark Gruchy and his family were a few dozen meters away from that tree when it was struck by lightning on Thursday. (Submitted by Mark Gruchy) Once things were resolved, the couple concluded that the lightning had struck close enough to their tent that they felt it – but not enough to cause serious injuries. Gruchy said he was left with a strange feeling in his leg for a few hours, which he says may have been on the ground when the lightning struck. Their suspicions of lightning were confirmed when they exited their tent and spotted the largest tree in the area, about 30 feet from them. “This tree, which was perfect before the storm hit, had split in a corkscrew pattern from the top. It was like a spiral coming around. When I first looked at it, it looked like an almost classic zig-zag, jagged vertical about halfway up the tree,” Gruchy said. “I don’t know what would have happened if we’d been off the stage, or if we’d been closer to the tree, or if we’d been sitting at the picnic table, which had metal legs. … It’s a wild, weird, unique, surreal thing to think about.” He says the family is doing well after the incident and now has a story to share – and now knows to be more aware of where the biggest tree at the campsite is on their next trip. Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador