Soaked on the AZT

[Kevin Buggie]

I recently rode Scott Morris's Gila River Ramble route connecting passages 15 and 16 of the AZT with brutal and at times sublime 4×4 double tracks.

3 days, 80 miles and 10K of climbing ended with the roller-coaster of Ripsey ridge.

Great trip, except that dry and clear Arizona winter nights with a higher dew point, a few days after a soaking storm, left my sleep system soaking wet in the morning. The ground and vegetation had no visible surface moisture (dew) in the morning. 38 degrees felt coldish (high of 70 later on). My m90 borah bivy was soaking wet on the surface by 9 pm (before i climbed into it; not wetted from perspiration) the shell of the dwr 850 enigma quilt (30f) was thoroughly saturated by morning). 2 more nights brought the same moisture dump in the dew. A polycro 7×4 tarp buffeted the soaking a bit the following nights but the breezes still let the dew creep under the tarp wetting the shell. I slept without the bivy the following 2 nights , but under the polycro set like a lean-to

I guess I learned a lesson in emissivity when the bivy and quilt fabrics were soaked yet the polycryo hanging over it was still bone dry when heading to bed a couple hours after dark-fall?!?

Or was I just schooled in dew management?

[John Mc]

Sounds like a nice ride except for the fact that your sleep system was wet and it was 38F outside…..yuck. I do enjoy the view.
Would an eVent bivy been better?

[Kevin Buggie]

John, an event bivy would have certainly helped, but I thought the dwr on the m90 momentum would be more effective than it was. I awoke to small (1-2" across) puddles of water on the silnylon floor of the bivy in a couple of places.

A tarp would be the lightest solution with a small mid (hexamid/solomid) being the best protection from rain and drifting heavy dew.

Surely some of the wetting issues were due to our decision to camp on benches within the arroyo bottoms rather than the drier and breezy desert above that was studded with dense cactus leaving little to no room for any camp other than on the trail surface itself. The very limited camp spots along the drier sections of trail (95% of that route) also favor a bivy's footprint over a tarps space requirements and fiddle factor.

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