Enjoying Continuously Wet Weather

I can't say I've honestly ever enjoyed wet weather hiking. Like Rick, in these parts it generally turns into type 2/3 fun pretty quickly. Problem is, the weather here can barely be predicted even a day in advance, so to me it IS more of learning to *cope* with the conditions rather than enjoying them. And, like Rick, much of my hiking is alpine where a) I wish to enjoy the views, and b) there is no escape from wind, rain, snow and lightning, and the ever present risk of running into a swollen river is always on my mind. Navigating is also a big problem in many storm conditions, especially since much of my hiking is not on tracks. The best map in the world is not much use if visibility is poor and you have no track.

Dry clothes and sleeping bag to change into are my best friends, and of course a good shelter. I don't worry about putting wet clothes and shoes on each morning, but make an effort to make sure they don't freeze overnight!

everyone should go out at least once or twice a year even if just for a day in the wet and wild rain IMO …

just to keep in practice ..

because one of these days youll be away and your "weather" will turn nasty and youll need to tough it out … and be far enough away that you cant just walk back to your car in a few hours

there was this link i posted awhile back about this hiking group in cali that panicked in wet weather, they made bad decisions, put themselves in danger and needed a rescue …

Just my personal view, but nothing wrong with dying either–not that i want to, because i have stuff to do here and i wouldn't want to cause any loved ones pain, but really to me it's no big deal either way. I have no fear of it itself, just dying in a very painful and uncomfortable manner i wouldn't want to do. Personally, i would like to exit stage left via hypothermia, fall asleep and don't wake up, not too bad–there are much, much worse ways which i have observed first hand.

I'm enjoying this post. The one thing I miss here in SoCal is weather (of all kinds not just rain). I like to catch any weather I can on hiking trips. It always seems like more of an adventure.

Recently I took a regular city umbrella on a rainy overnight and it was great. Especially standing around the campfire in the evening it was nice to not be in soggy rain gear. I plan on getting the Golite silver umbrella eventually – though it'll probably get used more for sun than rain!

I also agree that a tarp is better than a tent in wet weather since it doesn't trap the moisture inside like a tent does.

So long as I can stay out of persistent cloud I'm generally happy enough. That can often mean staying off the 'high' tops. Liking waterfalls perhaps helps. Rain by itself not an issue.

It probably helps that in the UK it's actually quite rare for rain to set in for an entire day – some sort of on/off showers is much more common – and it also doesn't really come in the sort of intensity needed for full scale flash flooding. Having a selective memory helps a lot :)

They even hold one of the mountain marathons in late October specifically to try and get 'interesting' weather in terms of navigation. That turned amusingly 'fun' in 2008. Do a search for OMM 2008 for some interestingly wet videos…..

"Half of the bounce is 90% mental" – Tigger

Like many working parents on the forum, I don't always have a lot of flexibility as far as when I go on trips. I can hike in the weather I'm given, or stay home and wait longingly for an opportunity to open up again in a month or two. I'll take the weather, thanks.

As far as enjoyment, cultivating the right attitude, as Miles said, is key.
Here are my mantras:

1. The weather is always exactly what is supposed to be. It is I that must adapt.

2. There are many things in life I can choose. The weather is not one of them

3. If I wasn't out here enjoying this, I would be______________
(Pick one: at work, at home listening to whining, mowing the lawn…..)

4. Bad weather is just one more manifestation of the power of the natural world.

5. This is going to make a really good story….

If none of those work, try smiling and pretending you are having fun. Soon the fantasy becomes reality. If that doesn't work, at least you will look like you were having fun in your pictures. Long after you forget how bad the trip really was, you'll still have the evidence to prove that you were having fun.

Knowing you can hike and be safe in all kinds of weather is actually kind of empowering. Trusting that you have assembled the right gear and have experienced all forms of weather is important.

And finally, type 2 fun is still fun. Don't let the weather dictate what you can and can not do.

This thread is great. I'm a California native, and grew up where my "rain gear" was the same unopened emergency poncho for 10 years (may be exaggerating a little). Now living in the PNW, it took me a while to figure out that rain could be fun. I also like to do a basecamp + dayhikes type trip when I'm expecting wet weather. I've even pitched an extra tarp above my tent to give me a large dry porch area. Warm drinks and hot food taste all the better when its raining. Whenever I see those tv commercials for coffee/tea (where a woman wearing a cozy sweater is sipping from a hot mug and looking our her window) I always think about how much more satisfying that cup would be sitting outside your tent on a drizzly morning.

I hear you Jim! That was more along the lines of what I was suggesting from a "flexibility" perspective. Not to necessarily cancel the trip but to modify it in a way where you can still log some miles and still enjoy a modicum of comfort at the end of the day. I have a plain ol' (albeit heavy) Noahs Tarp which works well for this. At 9'x9', we set it up in a common area for cooking, lounging, and (ahem) beverage enjoyment.

An experience on Kauai, Na Pali coast, where it rains a LOT:

We've carried umbrellas for years, and on the Na Pali coast it really made a difference. When we were there it rained briefly but often. We wore shorts and t-shirts and took out and put away the umbrellas at least once per hour. It was warm, and other than our feet we were dry and comfortable the entire time.

But we came across others who were in a dismal state. They were wearing full WPB rain suits, tops and bottoms, and looked miserable. Since it was too much work to take them off and put them on so often they just kept wearing them. I'm sure it was like a steambath in there for hours on end.

Two styles of dealing with rain, two completely different outcomes. Which one would you choose?

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Damn Hippies ^^^

:)

I like the rain and all but it makes me huddle under a tarp and drink waay too much coffee. Intermittent rain is fine. the whole entire trip is just plain annoying.

I enjoy the challenge of camping in the rain and the weather can be a very exciting and unique experience.
But if I am going on a long trip, I prefer to have mostly good weather. The rain and wet can get tiresome and annoying. It detracts from the backpacking experience.
I enjoy getting out in the rain for an overnight, but if I can I will usually wait until there is good weather for a long trip.

Embrace the rain or go mad.

There are a thousand kinds of rain: light cold facials, drizzle, sprinkles, a wall of tiny drops like a garden sprinkler and soaking everything, fat spaced drops falling through the trees, full-on thunder showers, and walking through river valleys with clouds 100 feet overhead with big puffs of gray moisture floating through the trees, the lungs of the earth, your hair is soaked and stuck to your head, your jacket is heavy with wetness inside and out, the wet brush soaking you as you walk the trail, everything is gray and green and wet.

"I really love the rain, it doesn't matter if I'm walking the dogs, yard work, or out in the wild."

I enjoy gardening and walking the dogs in the rain. I can keep the exertion level to an amount just enough to keep warm without overheating. I can go inside the same day and dry off by a nice fire in dry clothes. Hiking uphill in heavy rain when I overheat, only to face an open top where hypothermia becomes a real issue is a lot less fun. Umbrellas are great if the wind isn't too strong, but again on the tops in the rain this is hardly ever the case, and I still have to deal with getting through the bush where an umbrella become impractical a lot of the time (my umbrella gets more use in hot still weather). It's not the rain that bothers me, it's trying to regulate my body temperature in a sensible manner that becomes the tedious challenge with long term rain. The occasional shower is no big problem, but when it drags on for days, when rivers become unpassable and routes become a muddy quagmire, when hillsides slip and I have to make unplanned detours through thick bush, when the wind is gale force and drives into my face stinging it, these are the things that make the rain miserable for me. It is not always like this, but too often the rain comes with wind and mud and detours or waits for the rivers to drop. And being wrapped in a cloud makes navigation tricky to say the least!

I don't do a lot of it, but I actually enjoy the change. For me a poncho works well. Don't overheat and my pack and belongings stay dry.

Tarps are best… big ones though. Large mids even better to sit up and watch.

But I do prefer this:

Braggart! ;)

Geez Nick, have a little compassion.

Once I am out in the rain hiking, I thoroughly enjoy it. The challenge of regulating body temperature is actually fun to me. But a point that no one has mentioned yet is that I see the most wildlife when I am hiking in the rain. In the rain is when I most often see the deer, the coyotes, the foxes, the owls, and so forth. When I see them I feel like I am sharing the woods with them and they seem to be less afraid of me.

How miserable Nick

Above 80 F or so, I just stay home in air conditioned space so I'de only be good for 4 months out of the year

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Ha ha. Yeah…. Me too… Thats what i get at work (called hippie)

Not so much a classic hippie now that I'm a short-hair
…and being an asshole kinda takes away from it, but I'm good with that.

In mississippi i was a hippie, now, in the sunnyside neighborhood I'm a redneck. Its all relative, baby!

Asshole redneck hippies are simply the worst, and most confusing hippy breed there is. But fairly rare too, and so should be prized to some extent. Kind of analogous to a Grizzly…?

Might as well call you a Grizzly Hippy :)

Jeffs, is that you in your avatar? I for some reason pictured you looking like Gandalf for some reason. ;)

I don't have a psychological aversion to rain. It can be pretty, ugly, gentle, wild–just like everything else in nature. Never the same rain twice. I hate being cold though. Cold is the surest way to end my fun. That's why fleece is awesome. :)