[pct-l] Rain gear for Washington

Wed Oct 2 12:14:38 CDT 2013

Great report, Scott! I loved your realistic situations where you used each 
of the items you chose to bring. I could almost 'see' the practical 
application and how it worked for you.

Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
www.mountaineducation.org
-----Original Message----- 
From: Scott Williams
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 10:22 PM
Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Rain gear for Washington

On my CDT hike in 2012 I used a ZPacks breathable cuben fiber rain jacket
in the "long" style.  It is pricy, but is the best breathable fabric I've
ever used.  I stayed dry and not sweaty when I hiked in it in the rain of
the Rockies.  I used it again this year in the Winds and Glacier NP.  We
only had a few days of rain, but the jacket is still working beautifully.
I originally bought a medium which is my size for most other shirts and
tops, but found it too tight in the chest.  Joe is great about returns and
I just sent it back for a large and that fit perfectly.

Cuben is more fragile than sil nylon but much lighter.  It has great
tensile strength but not great abrasion resistance.  I worried that the
shoulders would wear through, but it has lasted well and I'll be using it
again next year on the AT.

Another great piece of ZPacks gear is their cuben mittens.  They are "over
gloves" that weigh almost nothing and I could carry them in my pocket
without taking up any room and then put them on in a flash, without
bothering to put on my warm gloves first, when a flash hail storm would hit
and the temps drop 30 degrees and more in a minute or two.  I've never seen
such quick and dramatic temperature swings.  Running from lightening on the
divide meant not stopping to suit up until finding a spot in the trees and
off the Divide.  But the gloves could be donned while I was running and
most of the time they were enough.

My rain pants are real cheepos made of sil nylon, I got at a Sports
Basement.  I rarely used them because if I kept my core warm and dry, my
legs could stay exposed for a long time with no problem.  There were those
times when the storms were cold enough to warrant finding them and putting
them on, but mostly as a wind break.

As for feet, I use Montrail Sabinos, a light trail runner.  They fit so
well on the PCT that I bought a ton of them when the style changed, at a
tremendous discount.  I've lived for many weeks in the Sierra in snow,
crossing numerous icy streams each day and then heading right back onto
snow, and never had a problem with cold feet.  Of course they were freezing
painfully when crossing those streams, but a bit of uncontrolled screaming
and swearing was all it took when I reached shore to get me back on trail
again.  I used the same shoes last year on the snows of the Weminuche
Wilderness of the San Juans and still swear by light trail runners.

For traction I used Kahtoola KTS Aluminum Crampons.  They weigh only a tad
more than Kahtoola Microspikes, but provide a better platform for kicking
in or edging and stomping trail in hard snow and ice, and they don't roll
because they are cramps that attach to tennis shoes providing a real base.

Great question as there are so many good products out there for the snow at
this point.

Shroomer

On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 5:26 PM, marmot marmot 
<marmotwestvanc at hotmail.com>wrote:

> My favorite rain gear combo is Frogtoggs with a six moon design poncho
> over the top if the weather is bad enough. So far each set of Froggtoggs
> has lasted 3 to 5 thousand miles. Unless you are bushwacking they are
> pretty tough. Marmot
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Oct 1, 2013, at 5:18 PM, "Jim & Jane Moody" <moodyjj at comcast.net>
> wrote:
> >
> > A-M,
> >
> > I bought rain gear from DancingLightGear in 2005 for my 2006 AT hike.
>  It was a two-person business in rural Georgia, two-former thru-hikers.  I
> forgot the guy's name but the girl was "Brawny".  They closed the 
> business,
> but I think she lives in the PNW, maybe Portland.  If you ask on
> Whiteblaze.net, you may find someone who has an email address for her.  I
> tracked her down  in 2010 about making a new pack cover for me, but she
> declined.  If you can find her, she may do a custom job for you, or she 
> may
> give or sell her patterns.
> >
> > Their gear was made of silnylon, very light, very waterproof, but not
> breathable.  When you're hiking, "breathable" fabrics are NOT.  They can't
> transfer moisture to the outside as fast as you generate it from sweating.
>  I carried my original parka and rain pants on the PCT this year, through
> OR and WA.  The pants have been torn (White Mtns and 2011 northern Sierra
> snow) and patched a few times, but they are still functional.  The parka
> still repels water and wind as well as it did when new.
> >
> > If you can find a pattern and can sew, you can make your own rain gear.
>  Several websites sell silnylon by the yard.  Whether you make your own or
> buy it, I suggest getting blaze orange for the upper jacket (deer season,
> you know) and black for the pants (when that's all you have to wear in 
> town
> while you're washing everything else.)
> >
> > I have no experience with name-brand rain gear, but I have heard other
> hikers complain that Frogg Toggs don't last long in rough country.
> >
> > Good luck,
> > Mango
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >
> > From: "Ann Marie" <dbanmrkr at yahoo.com>
> > To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 4:44:49 PM
> > Subject: Re: [pct-l] Rain gear for Washington
> >
> > I know that some of the current hikers are still on the trail and trying
> to find a way to the border (and their adventures are scaring me,) but I
> would like to ask a favor from all of this years hikers who encountered 
> bad
> weather conditions to please give a review of their rain gear selections 
> on
> this list. Please name brand names and combinations of what worked and
> didn't work this wet year. I'm trying to select rain gear for next year, 
> or
> make strategic additions to my existing rain gear to make it work in the
> (unthinkable, right now) wet and miserable Washington conditions for next
> year.
> >
> > I'm in awe of what the hikers are walking thru right now. Those wet
> clothes and wet shoes and socks bring back too many unpleasant memories of
> a past section hike in Washington.
> >
> > Is any particular gear working well? What would you absolutely buy or
> take again for Washington, and also what do you recommend carrying again 
> or
> shipping to yourself for just unknown conditions?
> >
> > This list is a great information resource. I hope those who hiked this
> year respond with some reviews of this year's gear selections.
> >
> > I'm a small female and I hate trying to buy online but I do most of the
> time because stores don't carry my small sizes often. But I end up
> returning items that don't fit a lot of the time, or researching forever
> looking for reviews from someone about my size. Too many websites forget 
> to
> provide basic information when describing merchandise....(1) hip sizes for
> rain pants...S, M, L, XL doesn't cut it when the item is considered
> "unisex" but only is displayed in the clothing category for men....a small
> for a man is NOT a small for a woman;  or (2) no ounce weights for every
> available size....seriously, it's impossible for the website to list the
> weight for every size besides a M?????....before you criticize, I'm going
> to disclose that I'm a former software programmer.....  and  (3) then the
> last one that has me flummoxed is the various fittings: slim vs. regular
> vs. relaxed.
> >
> > So what I'm hoping for is that you be specific. What brand, what model,
> what size, what fitting worked for you? What size are you normally? Did 
> you
> have to add to your rain gear to make it waterproof? Did you add to your
> rain gear (extra weight) and wished you had not carried that extra weight?
> Did you find any emergency solutions to add to the rain gear you did 
> carry?
> Were tall gaiters better than short gaiters on the muddy trails or too
> hot/too much weight? Did you find the desert umbrella any use at all
> through the Washington brushy trails?
> >
> > Please help us hikers going for 2014.
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