Pearls for backpacking in the rain

"Take advantage of good sun to air out your sleeping bag and to at least partially dry wet clothes. Pin wet socks to the back of your pack (in such a way that brush won't drag them off) to dry in the sun while you're hiking."

Nice if you get the chance. When I think of the challenges of rainy hiking, that means several days of gray and drizzle as opposed to a thunderstorm spaced with sunny days. Multiple days of cool, wet, high humidity condition means dealing with both precipitation and condensation and the prospect of saturated gear with no opportunity for sun drying.

The PNW trail guide writer Harvey Manning wrote of "blue holes" to describe the fair weather, meaning that sunshine is just holes in the otherwise solid overcast. Sunshine is just Mother Nature's perverse way of teasing hikers here :)

Attitude is indeed important. Embrace the wet or stay home!

One of the biggest problems seems to be with people who hate the rain.
Trying to avoid getting wet is a psychological handicap that can be a big problem.

Best to assume there will be rain and that you are going to get wet.

Be prepared for rain.

Don't cancel day hikes because rain is in the forecast.

Do your shopping and run errands in the rain. The stores are less crowded.

Try to accept the rain as being unavoidable.

I have a friend that would always talk about how much he hates rain. He canceled a few hikes because of the chance of rain.

I eventually did an eight day trip in the Catskills with him. The forecast was for no rain and it was dry the whole time.
I found out near the end of the hike that my partner didn't bring any rain-gear of any kind. He doesn't hike in the rain and so didn't need to carry any rain-gear:-(

Anyway, in addition to hanging gear in the sun, if you get sun, building a fire(or using extra fuel) to heat water to:

1) Make a hot drink to keep from getting chilled.

2) To fill water bottles to be placed inside you sleeping bag/quilt to help get the loft back up.

3) These same hot water bottles can be placed in your shoes and socks when you go to bed so you have dry footwear at the start of the day.

I have often gone many days without cooking food, but always carry a stove, pot and fuel for these kinds of situations.

For me the important part is to get out of the rain quickly when I stop at the end of the day.
That is why I like shelters that set up quick and easy and dry inside (fly first)
Once I have the shelter up and well before I start cooling down, I am inside getting out of the wet gear into my night stuff and then I make a hot cup of tea/coffee or soup .
Not unusual for me to be having my hot drink looking out at others still setting up their shelter.
I always have plastic "bread " bags so that I can put those over my dry night socks to walk around camp, in my wet shoes, when I have to.
As pointed out by many, the trick is to walk with as few layers as possible (definitely NOT down…) so that you don't arrive at camp with a pile of sweat soaked stuff.
My packs have a liner built in and I have my SB and night stuff inside LW stuff sacks.

"how to manage a wet rainjacket upon entering a tent"
Again tent design makes a big difference here.
Some tents have a protected floor so that you can sit on it strip off and shove the wet stuff in the vestibule having the door open, others will have the inner already wet from set up and need to have the fly done up to stop the rain coming in.
Setting up when it does not rain does not work for me…
Here is an example of what I am talking about :

it's mid afternoon , it is raining and it rained till the next morning. I was warm and dry inside and so was my mate but I had a lot more room ..

Don't know how many peals there are here..but I wrote this just yesterday about backpacking in what I consider to be among the hardest of hiking: Cold and wet
http://www.pmags.com/cold-and-wet-the-hardest-hiking

Fluffy snow in Colorado? No problem.
Staying warm and comfortable in say the southern Appalachians in Feb or March? I honestly think that is among the most difficult hiking to manage in general (in terms of layers, etc)

Great article Paul, the conditions you mention remind me fondly of an average mountain day back home in Ireland :-)

My high school track coach, after listening to a bunch of kids raised in Southern California complain about running in the rain:

What? Are you made of sugar? You won't melt! Get out there and run!

And we did run, and we didn't melt.

As many others said, attitude is important.

— Rex

My first 1000+ miles of backpacking were done solely in the Sierra's (JMT and surrounding areas) in late Aug and early Sept. I only had a total of 20 min of light rain for all those miles. As I ventured to new places like the Winds, Uintas, Colorado, etc, I encountered a lot more rain and really struggled with it originally as in my world……it never rains when I go out – smile. Not only was I a somewhat unhappy hiker, I was also unprepared for wet weather as I never had a chance to deal with it and learn.

This last fall I spent 8 straight days in the Uintas during the week that Colorado got all that rain. It rained EVERY day for the entire trip. This was the first trip where we weren't able to dry things off at any time as it was always wet. Here are the main things I learned either on this trip or things that I got to enjoy on this trip from some previous learning opportunities (rain).

1) My attitude won't keep me dry, however, it really helps me "enjoy" a wet week.

2) With good rain gear I personally never get wet so hiking in the rain all day, every day wasn't really all that bad. I almost started to enjoy it.

3) I have to pay much more attention to my feet when they are always wet as I found out under these conditions I tend to get blisters (typically I don't w/ drier feet).

4) I really like my sleeping bag and clothes in waterproof bags so i don't need a pack cover. With these items protected, I don't care if my pack get wet and i am not fighting with that "pack cover on, pack cover off" ritual.

5) It's not good to let both pairs of my hiking socks get wet as there is never a guarantee that I will get a dry and sunny day to dry either pair out.

6) Experience now tells me that throwing wet wool socks into the foot area of the sleeping bag either DOESN"T really work or I still haven't mastered that skill yet.

7) If I end up going to bed early and w/o dinner due to a heavy rain storm that doesn't stop, I will not die from starvation. rather, my same old breakfast tastes incredible the next morning.

All in all, I have found that rain is "JUST PART OF MY ADVENTURE" and the more i keep reminding myself of this and the more i try to learn how to deal with it better, the less chance it has to negatively effect my outing.

…

When a friend asked if I hiked in the rain, I replied "not on purpose".

Re: "As I ventured to new places like the Winds, Uintas, Colorado, etc, I encountered a lot more rain and really struggled…"

I grew up near the Uintas and my early hikes almost always included a lot of rain.
I got to where I was always prepared for it and never let it bother me.

Another issue about rain(and snow) is that weather forecasts are usually for the lower elevations and don't take into consideration that fact that weather can be much different at higher elevations.

You can't take a weather forecast for Denver, SLC or Idaho Falls and apply it to the nearby mountains.
You can get a forecast of 0% rain and still get non-stop torrential rain in the mountains.

Too many hikers, especially day hikers, do not prepare for this fact and get themselves into trouble.

I suck at backpacking in the rain. But here's what I've got for when things go wrong:

– Rain in So Cal is not the benign type. It's cold, it's usually heavy, and where I hike (the Los Padres National Forest) the encroaching plants may destroy ill-made rain gear. The emergency poncho will last 5 minutes.

– Just keep moving. If your clothes got too wet to dry out, your down will keep you warm if you have to sleep nude.

– Zip-off legs are great for rain. You can stay cooler under your rain pants if you zip off the leg bottoms and if you keep them dry, you have something dry to wear in bed to separate your clammy, sweaty-sticky legs from each other. (I don't use long underwear.) And if you get too hot, you can roll or pull up your rain pants to your knees and just let your legs get wet.

– Set up your shelter under a tree. There's less rain there.

– If it's raining too hard to cook, eat whatever cold meal you have for dinner instead of the hot one. Heck, eat all your chocolate for dinner. There's got to be some reward for all this misery.

– In a pinch, if you forgot your rain gear, a polycro ground sheet can be worn as a shawl and your z-rest can be worn wrapped around your body for warmth. Not perfect but better than nothing.

Sometimes I set up tent under tree, sometimes not

After it stops raining, water can continue to drip off tree for hours.

In prolonged rain I slow down my pace and keep walking all day with no pause.

It's also possible to get wet after a rain (or heavy morning dew) from contacting the wet vegetation along a trail. One of the easiest (and lightest) ways to reduce this is with rain chaps such as these:

http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=77

or

http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/chaps.shtml

Chaps allow for better ventilation (vs. rain pants) and work pretty well when combined with thin/light/fast drying clothing.

Also, a ground cloth makes a great rain skirt.
The combination of my Polycryo skirt and a short cape has kept me fairly well protected on many all day rainstorms.

…he espoused hiking with that rather obvious rain gear item, an Umbrella
. and did so for many 1000s of miles.

if it keeps the rain from hitting head-neck-shoulders and more, thats gotta be worth a try.

The guy who wrote the July 1982 Backpacker Magazine article was Rob Schultheis. That is what popularized ultralightweight backpacking. There was no mention of an umbrella.

–B.G.–

So Mr. Schultheis was all wet? :)

Umbrellas are handy, certainly "ventilated" And good for sun, but weak for a real blow, so do you carry both rain shell and umbrella or just get a little wet if the weather gets stinky?

"but weak for a real blow…"

I have never had a problem with umbrellas in high wind. You have to pay attention and keep it angled into the wind. But, there is LOTS of feedback to help keep it properly aligned. I've never understood why so many people have problems. I use to think it odd as I passed lots of people in downtown SF with their umbrellas turned inside out when I didn't think it was that windy.

The weak part being the lack of full coverage. Horizontal rain challenges the best rain shells. Granted, that is rare in my experience, but should be considered for more exposed terrain.

So, do you carry both bumbershoot and shell?

I have never carried an umbrella hiking. Generally speaking, I'm a fair weather hiker, at the moment. I did just get back from Yosemite (Yosemite Falls Trail for two nights), but that is my first winter trip. I have spend many trips in the rain, but they were short hikes. I was far more worried about rain getting in my tent when I opened the "door".

I am interested in more less than perfect weather hiking. An umbrella seems like a great way to keep the rain off your face. I would still have a shell, but it could possible just be a wind shirt. Not really sure as I haven't tried it yet. This is all a new set of stills I am currently learning. The skill of using an umbrella in the wind is one I already have though. ;^)

I think an umbrella comes into it's own on drizzly days and easier trails—- those where one or no trekking poles are manageable. Walking in light rain often leaves you with the choice of getting wet from precip or sweat and the umbrella is certainly the ultimate ventilated rain gear. A windshirt is the perfect marriage.

Of course the choice concerns hauling yet more weight. I tend to use a poncho or cape which can be as light as the more Spartan rain shells. A sub 10oz umbrella plus a 7oz poncho come to a fraction of an ounce more than my heavy weather rain shell. That combination gives all the multiple uses of emergency shelter, pack cover, cook shelter, latrine roof, tarp shelter "door" and sunshade.

I often hike in cool drizzly rain with high humidity. "Perfect" weather is a myth, spoken of in whispers in order to avoid offending the sun god and causing him to veil his face in gray wool floating in the sky :)

Sunny weather does happen, but the idea of planning on it would be cause for involuntary commitment in a psychiatric facility. Local meteorologists are held in the same regard as politicians, used car salesmen, bankers and the like.

"I often hike in cool drizzly rain with high humidity. "Perfect" weather is a myth…"

I thought that summer was pretty rain free up that way. It always seemed to be in Auburn, WA when I was there.

And since I never use trekking poles I have my hands free for an umbrella. The weight of an umbrella is certainly extra, but if it give better performance over lighter options then it is worth it IMO (I'm never humble ;^) ). But, I'm were it never rains anymore it seems, so I'll probably never need one. ;^)

PNW weather is highly variable. However, when it rains and gets wet it can be difficult to get things dried out. Summer comes late very often (late June) and cooler weather starts up in mid/late August (though September is consistently the most beautiful month IME). Personally, I do most of my hiking in the Olympic National Park, which at least on the westside get's a lot more rain than the Auburn area. With that said, just going from say the Hoh River on the westside of the peninsula to the NW rain shadow in Sequim and I think they only get like 30" of rain per year versus 200" plus around the Hoh. Short torrential downpours aren't that common, but rather a sustained system that will last several days if not a week. This is why I try not to get too wet in the first place.
I don't use an umbrella in the wetter areas of the PNW because it would be a PITA to get through the underbrush on a lot of the "trails" I encounter. If you are into cross-country travel the umbrella would be even more of a hindrance I think. This is speculation though so take it with a grain of salt; never used an umbrella for hiking.
I hate getting wet (unless I'm swimming), but particularly I don't like getting wet in the torso area because I can get cold really quickly. An umbrella wouldn't cut it here with horizontal rain and changing winds. My feet just get wet and I deal with it; my shoes dry pretty quick or at least don't get squishy/waterlogged. It's nice to have a larger tarp/tent here in the PNW. Guard your dry clothes wisely or be kind of miserable.

Summer starts… July 5

After everyone gets rained out the July 4 weekend

Half humor and half statistical

Usually Septemeber is good, maybe the best, but some years like 2013 it rained a lot