[pct-l] Most Common Causes of Thru-Dropout

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

Being only 5'3" tall, I found that using an umbrella in Washington,  
the only part of me that stayed dry was a little patch on the top of  
my head. Otherwise, I was soaking wet top to bottom even with rain  
pants on (I still can't tell the difference between wet skin and wet  
rain pants. Both feel wet to me.)

In Washington I was slapped in the face by all kinds of wet plants  
and pushed my way through the overgrown bushes with my whole body and  
my arms in front of my face trying to keep it dry to no avail. Still,  
I hate getting hot and sweaty inside a rain jacket so I prefer the  
umbrella to a jacket. Also nice is when it's time to camp, I take off  
my pack and keep the umbrella over the pack while I set up my shelter.

I've gotten a lot of rain over the years in So Cal and have found an  
umbrella great for rain in So Cal. The Go-lite chrome is really  
strong in the wind. I've had it blow inside out a couple of times but  
it pops back. If I hold the front with one hand it doesn't blow  
inside out. I'm talking the winds around the windmills, not the kind  
of light wind that blows a regular umbrella inside out.


On Sep 24, 2011, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> I wish I'd done that Charles.  I used it for rain, snow and sun in the
> desert, but only twice between Whitney and Sisters, both times for  
> hail
> storms that  would have been fine with just my rain slicker.  WA  
> was another
> matter however, and I used it often and found the top of my body  
> stayed so
> dry I could keep shooting beautiful pictures from under the  
> protection of
> the umbrella, of those ghostly, foggy forests and mountains.  If I  
> did it
> again I'd have it for the deserts, and then ship it to Cascade  
> Locks.  Then
> again, the weather is so variable that this year when I rehiked WA,  
> over the
> same dates as last year, I carried the umbrella again and never  
> used it in 3
> weeks from White Pass to Manning.  But best guess is that after  
> August 28
> (according to Weather Carrot) it's good to count on rain in WA.
>
> Shroomer