[pct-l] Hiking in Rain gear

[Matt Bradley]

At the risk of beating a dead horse, here is my experience with rain on the
PCT.  I grew up in western Oregon and as such am no stranger to the rain.
As a flip-flopper in 2005 I had an unusually wet hike.  The only rain gear I
carried was a silnylon poncho.  The first lesson i learned has already been
pointed out by Swithcback and that is not to wait to put on the rain gear.
I spent a whole day fighting hypothermia by walking faster than a
comfortable pace in the San Felipe Hills (yes, those San Felipe Hills)
because I waited too long to put on rain gear in a blowing rain storm.  I'm
sure others on this list remember that storm well.  After that I never
hesitated to break out the rain gear prematurely and it worked very well for
me.
     Up in Washington the weather pattern was something like 4 days of rain
for every one day of sun and the sunny says always seemed to fall on town
days so I spent a lot of time hiking and camping in the rain.  The poncho
kept me reasonably dry although in those kind of conditions even the most
well protected person will be damp just from  the 100% humidity.  I stopped
using the hood pretty quickly because it made my head more wet than the rain
and instead opted to use my sun hat as a rain hat.  I think that my head
stayed drier this way even though the sun hat has a mesh top.  The critical
thing for me was having a good shelter and a sufficiently warm sleeping bag
for when i made camp.  For me this was my homemade silnylon tarp and my
Nunatak down quilt.  I usually was a little damp immediately after setting
up camp but I was always dry and warm come morning.  Using a tarp and down
sleeping system in those conditions is a calculated risk and requires
experience with tarp camping as well as diligence in keeping the down dry.
But my experience proves that it is possible, even in some nasty blowing
rain with lightning hammering down all around you.
     For my anticipated 2008 hike I am considering switching from the poncho
to a rain suit because of the added mobility and because my legs always get
soaked from brush along the trail while wearing a poncho.  This will mean
adding not only the weight of a rain suit to my gear but also having to
carry a pack cover since the poncho won't be available to serve that duty.
My exact choices are still up in the air but at this point I am looking at
the Integral Designs eVent Jacket and a pair of silnylon rain pants or
chaps.  I havent had the chance to try out the eVent myself but by all
accounts it outperforms GoreTex in breathability at a fraction of the
weight.  I think the jacket is around 9.5 oz and it looks to be
significantly more durable than the Frogg Toggs micropore material.  The big
disadvantage of eVent is its price.  $220 from www.backcountrygear.com.
     As a final comment, I would caution against using a down jacket as your
"fleece".  A major reason that I battled hypothermia all day in the San
Felipe hills was that my warm jacket was a montbell UL Down Inner Jacket.  I
was afraid to use it because i was soaked from the inside and the rain was
blowing sideways (actually it was blowing uphill at times) and I figured
that the down would be quickly rendered useless in those conditions anyway.
The down is the lightest but next time around I'll be opting for the
Montbell Thermawrap instead at the cost of a few ounces but with a great
gain in safety.
That is all.
Peace and Love,
Matt

-- 
Matt Bradley
mattbradley1 at gmail.com
http://www.trailjournals.com/peaceandlove