How to handle wet clothes on a cold / rainy trip?

[Joey G]

I have been on 6/7 backpacking trips so far and finally had one when I was rained on this last season. It was also kind of chilly ( 35 – 45 f ).

The clothes I brought were:

• OR Ferrosi Pants
• FarPointe Powerwool hoodie
• 3 pair of underwear
• 3 pair of socks
• arcteryx beta lightweight jacket
• arcteryx cerium
• arcteryx proton pants
• Patagonia capilene air pants
• Patagonia long sleeve capilene shirt
• The idea behind my system was, one pair of hiking clothes, one pair of camp clothes, and one pair of sleeping clothes. 

   

  This ended up being a two night trip. The first day wasn’t that bad so I’ll just skip to the second day. The second day, a cold front came in. We started the day hiking in the rain with our rain gear on. Both rain jacket and pants. It rained all day. 12 hours of hiking in the rain. It was about 38 degrees when I got to camp. I set up my tent, got inside and my camp clothes on.

  My hiking clothes were soaked. Pants, hoodie, underwear, and socks were drenched. I put the hoodie at one end of the tent and the pants, socks, and underwear at the other. My skin did get dry while sleeping, but when I woke up, my hiking clothes were still wet. It was cold and still raining in the morning. That ended up being my last night on trail, so I ended up just wearing my dry camp clothes out.

  My main question is, if I were to need to keep on backpacking a few more days, what would I have done? Just wear the wet clothes while hiking?

[Philip Tschersich]

Just wear the wet clothes while hiking?

Sadly, the answer is yes. Anything you wear that next day will also get wet, so you are simply losing ground. Suck it up and put on your damp clothing. Wear lots of layers as you start walking until you are really nice and warm, and then start shedding layers.

 

[Megan W]

The hardest part is taking off warm dry clothes to put on cold wet ones….warm wet ones can be a little more tolerable.
I’ve put my wet walking clothes in a closed waterproof bag inside my sleeping bag to keep them warm (and stop them freezing). After 7 days walking (sleet, rain and snow), they smelled awful (polypro) but it was better than putting them on cold.

[dirtbag]

If you use a pack liner for your backpack. Turn it inside out and put your wet clothes in there, and into your quilt with you so at least they are warm when u put them back on in the morning. Yea, it sucks but that what happens when you wan to play in cold rain. I usually do this with my boots in winter and it works well.

[David D]

If I know its going to keep raining overnight I put my wet clothes in a closed waterpoof bag in the vestibule to reduce condensation.

Here are some other tricks others swear by

• Gloves – directly against head underneath beanie.
• Wet socks –  place down long johns
• Hiking shirt –  either wear over the top of a thin merino wool t-shirt or fleece, or alternatively (if it’s soaked), place it between the sleeping mat and the shelter floor (but mat gets all wet)

These have to be weighed with how much moisture gets into the bag/quilt which compromises its loft.  The guy from Outdoor Vitals put up an interesting vid claiming this can be pretty slow, requiring a few days to build up.  I just wear wet clothes next day so never test this

If you’re desperate, a 16oz nalgene with boiling water to dry cold wet clothes in vestibule can help if you know ahead of time it’ll be a cold rain-fest before you hit the trail

You can try using a poncho for a lot less sweat build up so you’re drier when getting to camp.  I only use a rain jacket (with generous pit zips) if hiking/snowshoeing in sleet or if there are no wind breaks.  Anything above freezing near trees calls for my poncho and I come outa lot drier than a jacket.

Final little trick: if you know its your last day, hike in your camp socks in bread bags.  The heat from your feet will dry your shoes much faster and your feet won’t be as wet/cold.  This works great for me and makes the cold hike out a bit better

[Philip Tschersich]

If you know you will be facing prolonged wetness on a trip, consider swapping the Arc’x Cerium puffy for a synthetic ‘active insulation’ piece, like the excellent Patagonia Nano Air hoody. It dries quickly and will let you drive moisture out of layers beneath it with your body heat. It works much better in high humidity environments than down. You can hike in it when things are really miserable. That is the insulation piece I take on all spring and fall trips here in coastal Alaska.

[David D]

Great point, breathability and hydrophobicity are so important.  It’s why I never carry or use a puffy even down to -30 because its shell is so unbreathable (calendared) and instead use mesh, polyprop, airmesh and fleece (the $20 decathlon is my favorite, I voted with my wallet and own 5)

[Dan]

As noted above, there’s no real solution to endless cold rain, and as long as you can stay warm, that’s the most important thing. But it’s always good if you can keep things from getting totally saturated. Why do you think all your hiking clothes were soaked/drenched? Was it that your rain-gear was ineffective, or was it perspiration? There are always tradeoffs, so you probably can’t expect perfection. But you might be able to keep things somewhat dryer.

[Murali C]

Why did your hiking clothes get wet? With a good rain jacket and rain pants, you should be mostly dry – sometimes the bottom of the pants – 4 to 5 inches may be damp. Even that can be avoided by sliding the pant bottom into your socks and the rain pants go over the socks. Shirt may be slightly damp here and there from sweat or the lower part of the sleeves if you are not wearing rain gloves.

Maybe your rain jacket/rain pant wetted out?  Most of the breathable rain stuff will wet out in continuous rain and should be avoided.

I use non-breathable Nylon Lightheartgear rain pants which never wet out. Also Colombia Outdry rain jacket which also never wets out. I have been in multiple days of rain in Washington PCT with this setup and similar temperatures in September.

[Luke Schmidt]

Good suggestions.

I have sleep clothes I keep dry at all costs. If THOSE get wet I have a problem and start thinking about an exit plan or hunker down. You don’t want to be wet and cold with no way to dry out.

I like my OR Sombrero rain hat. If it’s a light rain I wear it instead of my hood. If it really pours I put it over my raincoat hood. Keeps rain from working in there.

I prefer thin and tight shirts for rain. Body heat dries them faster than button up nylon (those are better for bugs).

I hike with a very light fleece under my raincoat unless it is super warm. That soaks up dampness.

Finally if it’s really nasty looking I pack a complete change of clothes.  Yes it’s weight but with a light pack I can deal with that to stay out.

[Bill Budney]

Colombia Outdry rain jacket which also never wets out.

This. For persistent or heavy rain, it’s worth the extra weight. Wet clothes are heavy, too…

(Or a poncho, especially in warm weather.)

[AK Granola]

We had a nasty wet excursion when our son was in his teens. He has hated backpacking since. We were fortunate to be able to sleep the night in an emergency shelter, 6 of us packing in like sardines. In the morning yes, we put on the wet clothing which was miserable, but having one set completely dry was critical in case we didn’t make it out and had to camp again (we made it). We cut up my plastic groundcloth into pieces to fit into everyone’s shoes to keep feet warm in wet socks. Also used extra dry socks on hands when gloves got soaked. We then hiked hard, really hard, to stay warm. I had a 1 pound brick of cheddar cheese, which I had initially regretted carrying due to weight, but which the teens devoured like wolves on a carcass during our lunch “break.” Having high fat, energy-rich food also helps the body stay warm in those awful conditions, plus it helps morale. And yes, if you’re tenting, keep condensation down by the bag method, rather than hanging things; they won’t dry anyway.

Even with a decent rain jacket, I’ve found that in constant heavy downpour, I will eventually get damp, if not wet. I won’t be soggy, but I’ll be damp enough to get chilled if I don’t hike hard. Rain is worse than dry snow, by a long shot! I’ve probably posted this pic before, but it speaks for itself!

[Mark Verber]

I will second second several of the comments above;

1. With the properly technique / rain gear, all your hiking clothing should not be “soaked”.  Your rain shell is failing you and/or you are using too much insulation. Some notes https://verber.com/rain-gear/
2. I would look at clothing which absorbs / retains less water.  For example, alpha direct rather than power wool. if I am going to be in <40F and continuous rain I wear briefs and rain pants without anything else.
3. I have found that in those conditions clothing can often dry overnight when between me and my quilt.  I put on my sleeping base, get under the quilt and get toasty, and the bring out the wet clothing and let it dry overnight.
4. there are trips where the cloth has been sufficiently saturated and the humidity is high… I know body heat won’t dry clothing.  As others noted, put them in a waterproof bag and sleep with them.  Warm wet is way easier to put on in the morning than cold wet.  Just make sure you get moving quickly in the morning so they don’t chill you too much.
5. personally I don’t bother with camp clothing.  I spent very little time at “camp” outside of my sleeping system.

[Joey G]

I assumed the reason my clothes were soaked is because of sweet. I was in a group that was moving at a steady pace and didn’t want to fall behind too much or hold the group back.

Thanks for the advice!

I did have a water proof bag. Putting the clothes in the bag and then in my sleeping bag would have been a great move.

I like the idea of not wearing pants ( just rain pants ) in all day rain. Also, my hoodie ( power wool ) was probably not the best.

My main concern with putting on the wet clothes is hypothermia. I’m guessing with everyone saying that’s the only move, that it’s not going to be too much of a concern if you keep moving to warm up yourself and the clothes?

[dirtbag]

Get moving fast. Quickly as possible!  Standing around waiting or not moving and yes, you will get/be cold!

[AK Granola]

Being wet, and having to hike in wet clothes, and temps in the 30s or low 40s, is why I wear wool. In these conditions, “quick dry” doesn’t work, but wool can at least give a little warmth. But it’s the heat generated through movement that is the only defense against hypothermia. That, and ensuring that you still have a viable shelter, a dry set of clothes and dry sleeping bag, in case you can’t keep moving for any reason.

I’ve spent so much time hiking in exactly those conditions, that adjusting what’s in my pack for hikes in the lower 48 has been tough. I definitely packed my fears for a long time, and although I’ve lightened up quite a bit for local conditions, I still almost always include some safety stuff I really don’t need.

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

As others have mentioned, nothing to do but put wet clothes back on.

However, that’s doesn’t mean hypothermia isn’t a very real risk in that situation.

If you can not keep moving hard enough due to fatigue, terrain or such, you will start losing what little warmth you had. So having an extra insulation layer for active use would be good: grid fleece or polartech alpha direct would be good, since they dry quickly (if it ever stops raining) and breathe well.

In the future, trying to get less wet from sweat would be good:

adjust venting, and talk to the group about slowing down. Slowing down also means you can keep going longer, nd have a bit more energy left in camp.

Brynje polypropylene fishnet is a great option for these conditions:

it vents better, so if you can open any pit zips or such, you will overheat less and move more moisture out.

even better, it absorbs so little water, and touches so little skin, that putting it on when wet is not as bad as any other baselayer.

 

[Jerry Adams]

a vest or jacket with synthetic insulation like apex is good when wet.  Doesn’t absorb a lot of water.  Dries off quickly.  When wet it still has about half the warmth as compared to when it’s dry.  Has twice the warmth per weight as fleece or wool.

 

[David D]

Thing I didn’t like when using a synth vest or jacket is that they don’t breathe and I just got wet from sweat much faster. I even tried one of the Columbia omni heat vests with breathable material up the sides but still sweat like an oinker (I know, slow down, but personally prefer an option where I don’t have to)

[Mark Verber]

I will double down on alpha direct. It was initially designed for US special forces to help when operate in highly variable (crappy) conditions.  I have been amazed by how little water accumulates and how quickly it can dry.

As was mentioned… hypothermia is a real risk when you are wet and don’t have the energy (or circumstances) to generate heat by moving.  In most of these cases I will stop, get shelter, dry and warm up with my sleep gear.  Once I am out of danger I work on drying my clothing.

On trips where I have reason to believe this won’t be possible I bring a warm belay jacket that I typically layer over whatever I am wearing.  Also as has been noted… make sure you don’t have too much insulation.  I strive to always feel cool.  My notes on https://verber.com/insulation-layer/ 

[Joey G]

Thanks all! This community is the best!

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