Continuous Rain

imported
#1

Any PCT’ers have any tips on dealing with say 5 days straight of rain?

I’m guessing you will get soaked even with full rain gear. I see keeping your down sleeping bag dry as the most critical.

BTX

#2

In '97, 27 of the 30 days I was in WA on the PCT were rainy! Not only was it incredibly wet, but it was cold too - often just above freezing and windy… At Rainy Pass (go figure), I ended up sleeping in the women’s porta-toilet for survival reasons.

Anyways, here are a couple of strategies that have worked well for me:

(1) Emergency Poncho - they cost $1 and will actually keep your pack dry (unlike pack covers). Furthermore they are waterproof (plastic) & breathable (lots of ventilation from the bottom up - a la Marilyn Monroe). The only drawback is that they will only fit over small packs & they can be torn easily on branches or in extreme winds…(ducktape)

(2) Small pack towel: I always wipe down my tent (Tarptent) if its at all damp or wet before I pull out my sleeping bag.

(3) Tents that are made with Silnylon material (like Henry Shires Tarptents) have a remarkable characteristic - they can be wiped virtually dry with a pack towel (or bandana / washcloth, etc.) This is a HUGE advantage over plain nylon walls which eventually become saturated in wet weather.

(4) A closed cell foam sleeping pad (like a RidgeRest) will not absorb any water & can also be easily wiped virtually dry. ThermaRests and other nylon covered sleeping pads will retain water and get your sleeping bag wet eventually.

(4) As you mentioned, the key is keeping your sleeping bag dry - this is your ‘last defense’ so to speak. I always use a kitchen trash bag as a liner inside my stuff sack. (and also one for my clothes)

(5) Perhaps this is overstating the obvious, but a fire goes a long way in an emergency - birch bark will flame up in solid rain.

(6) Another obvious, but often overlooked strategy: if your stuff is wet and you are cold, hitch from any road that has traffic into civilization. In '05 on the PCT I had to convince a bunch of fellow thru-hikers to bail out at Rainy Pass (no joke) to Mazama. We hitched down to ‘town’ in some nasty weather and ended up having an awesome time hanging out in a hot tub that night (at a cool place called the “Base Camp”) When we got back on the Trail, we ran into other thru-hikers that had suffered through that nasty cold night.

(7) Finally, when all else fails use any type of shelter you can find… even a porta toilet will do in a pinch :slight_smile:

Happy Trails!

freebird

#3

You’re expecting five days of rain?:wink: That’s a AT problem.

Rain on the PCT isn’t an all day, many days kind of storm. We packed wet gear in the morning, dried it at lunch, got more rain in the afternoon for several days (a week?) in the northern Sierra.

You’ll get wet in any rain gear, either from rain or sweat. We’ve dried a shirt or fleece by draping it over our sleeping bag at night or wearing it in our bag. Usually we just put on wet clothes and hike them dry.

We have Western Mountaineering down bags with slightly heavier DWR covering. The covering may get wet but the down stays dry.

Don’t make the mistake of pulling a garbage bag over your sleeping bag. Your down will get wet from condensation.

Of course, you may get a different weather year. Have a good hike.

Marcia

#4

My PCT partners debated a similar point–how many days of solid heavy rain could you withstand with ultralight gear? The general concensus was four days or 100 miles. Mainly because that’s what we all had to do at various places in Washington. I struggled through three days of constant record rains, getting a little damper each night, until I got to Snoqualmie and dried out. Another night would have been OK, but not two. A large fire would have been necessary at that point.

Garlic

#5

It’s also a good idea to use a liner for your entire pack, not just your sleeping bag stuff sack. A large black trash bag works well. You just pack all your stuff inside it, being sure you can roll the top down a few turns. When it gets rainy, that pack liner becomes essential equipment. Even if your pack is a sopping wet mess, and it will be after a few days of solid rain, everything inside it will still be dry.

We had rain pretty much every day north of Olallie Lake, Oregon in '04, including multi-day stretches where the heavy rain never let up. It can really be a trial, mentally.

We never had anything get wet that was inside our pack liners, as long as it went in dry in the morning. Of course, that’s the trick. If you can keep the inside of your tent dry, then you’re golden.

As freebird mentioned, don’t be afraid to just head to civilization. We got hammered after Olallie Lake, and the next night we arrived at Timberline Lodge, on Mt. Hood, soaking wet and hypothermic. It had gotten scary outside very quickly (so bad that a hiker drowned in Zig Zag Creek the next day), and we almost missed the lodge because the mountain was so socked in with fog. We walked right into the middle of a wedding reception, where we just stood in a corner, shivering and dripping on the floor. A guest actually told us we were in the wrong place!! On the contrary, we were exactly where we needed to be - somewhere warm and dry, and alive. It wasn’t a planned stopover, but it surely was a necessary one. Do whatever you need to do to stay safe.

Chipper & Jeff

#6

Did you also hike in '04 Garlic? I seem to remember seeing your name ahead of us. Rain, rain, rain…

Our Glacier reroute turned into a really wet 50 mile “stock reroute” road walk because the stream crossing on trail were impassable. If there’s one thing more fun than walking in the rain for days, it’s doing it on a road. Wahoo! I was so happy that it changed to snow for our last few days on trail. Way better.

Chipper & Jeff

#7

I believe the most wet I’ve ever been hiking was in the White Mountains upon a 05’ thru. What was left of hurricane Katrina dumped on us for days, and after waist-high crossings, the only place to dry everything was under a real roof, but on the AT that’s much closer.

fishngame

#8

Chipper and Jeff: Yeah, I was out there in the '04 rain. I felt the same as you did at Timberline when I got to the motel at Snoqualmie. Close call. I had to warm up for a while before I could stop shivering enough to sign in.

I finished Sept 7 so I missed most of the snow. We only had one day of it heading into Stehekin. We did the same road walk reroute because of the flood and hearing about that fatality on Hood.

The plastic garbage bag is absolutely the way to go. I consider it essential gear now. I’m so confident in it I don’t carry any other stuff sacks or a pack cover.

Garlic

#9

Except in the Whites, I usually welcomed rain on the AT. It would get so freakin humid and the rain wasn’t usually the cold, bone chilling kind. Of course there were exceptions. I nearly went Hypothermic in the Whites. I usually relied on my hiking speed to heat up, but with the cold rain, the rocks were pretty treacherous and I didnt realized how slowly I was hiking until it was nearly too late. I was shivering for over three hours in one of the huts. It was one of those experiences that led me to seriously doubt the ultra-lite philosophy.

Jalan jalan

#10

Last summer i heavily relied on Freebird’s instruction #6. Despite 2-3 weeks of solid rain in Oregon and Washington, i was only out in it overnight…once. Yes, one night in the rain, on the entire PCT. (I was kinda pissed the night before Skykomish when my perfect record was spoiled.) Part luck, part wise planning and following the weather forecast, part just being a wuss and hitching out a couple of times from unusual places.

I still wonder if it would be good for me to force myself to stay out consecutive nights in the rain just for practice.

Trash compactor bags are slightly heavier, but much more tear-resistant than black garbage bags. I would carry at one of these strong suckers at all times, and 2 from mid-August on.

markv

#11

It was never the sleeping out part that got to us, because our tent was pretty much bomb-proof once we resealed it at Cascade Locks. There definitely is a learning curve to staying dry for multiple days, though.

Our main problem with rain was that when it’s pouring, it’s hard to stop and take the breaks you need because you risk getting too cold. If you can’t take breaks, you tend to not eat as much, and you get worn out, or at least that’s how it was with us.

Chipper

#12

sorry for the double post.

chipper

#13

Being from the Seattle area and used to hiking in the rain…

  1. I always carry an extra sheet of plastic. This doubles as a 2nd ground cloth to guard against pin holes allowing seepage up into my sleeping gear from below. It weighs only a few ounces.

  2. Said sheet of plastic also allows me to stop any time, any where and have a dry place to go. I keep it on the outside of the pack and can throw it over me like a cape to form a hasty improvised shelter.

  3. Said sheet also gives me a dry place to put things while I set up or take down camp. Fold it over, with things in between.

  4. Ponchos are great for rain gear. I stay dry, my pack stays dry and everything in the pack stays dry. There’s no gap between my rain gear and a pack cover to allow water to soak into the pack back. I can wear the poncho while setting up and taking down camp, so I stay dry during the process. They’re reasonably well ventilated, so condensation buildup under them is managable. They’re lighter than main line brand goretex rain gear, although probably not any lighter than ultra light rain gear.

  5. I ‘belt and suspenders’ my critical gear. Sleeping bag, insulating layers, extra socks, etc. all go into plastic bags in the pack. Stuff that’s wet (like the tarp tent) goes onto the outside of the pack, openings facing down to allow for drip drying during the day. The poncho is my primary means of keeping gear dry - the bags are the ‘fail safe’ back up.

  6. I’ll second the hitching out if required. Did it from the weather station just south of Snoqualmie.

  7. I’ll also second the fire in a pinch suggestion. One of my group got her sleeping bag very wet on a very rainy day north of Snoqualmie and would have froze (a failure of the “plastic bag inside the pack and heck with the pack cover or poncho” method - you’re warned). We managed to get a fire going just after the rain had let up and were able to dry her bag out and she did OK that night. Alcohol stove fuel also works as a fire starter.

Token Civilian

#14

Hey Token Civilian, do you have a specific poncho you recommend that’s light and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg? Though i supposed since it’s a poncho, an arm doesn’t really matter much.

I used to use a rain coat that was way too big and long, and i used it as a combo rain coat/pack cover. But when i went lighter and got a Marmot rain jacket that fit, that option didn’t exist anymore. I did ok with just using trash compactor bags inside the pack, but the pack does get heavy from the rain, so i’d be in the market for the right poncho.

markv

#15

Campmor has a silnylon regular poncho that weighs 8 ounces. I’ve carried mine on an 04 AT thru hike as well as to the North Cascades, Wind Rivers, Long Trail, Adirondacks and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. It’s terrific and still in great shape! I also use a pack cover and line my pack with a trash compactor bag. Campmor’s extended length sylnylon poncho would cover a pack and probably eliminate the need for a pack cover and weighs 9.5 ounces.

The Walking Stomach

#16

The Golite poncho-tarp can be found on sale or bought used at backpacking forums for $30-35 and is quite a bit more durable and just a little heavier than the regular silnylon ones. I’ve used one successfully.

RickD

#17

I carried a home made sil-nylon poncho for most of the PCT. It really didn’t cost a lot to make, but for the hassle…well, I probably could have bought the mentioned Golite or any other commercial sil-nylon and saved the time. YMMV - if you’re better at the sewing machine than I, I’d say make your own.

Up here in Washington, I switched back to my heavier, commercial coated nylon version that I’d used on previous section hikes (I was nervous of how well the sil would hold up and reverted to a trusted, well tested one.) I don’t recall what this one cost - perhaps $30 at REI. It sounds like Walking and Rick have you covered on specific brands and costs.

The nylon poncho I used in WA is definately heavier than sil-nylon. The advantage is it didn’t blow around as much in windy conditions compared to the sil one. One way I’ve though to overcome this limitation is to get a piece of parachute cord and tie a ‘belt’ around the poncho, holding it in, so it doesn’t flap around in the breeze.

As you rightly point out MarkV - with the pack covered, it’s a lighter to carry a dry pack than a soaking wet pack.

Also to consider - a lot of folks use their pack under their feet in combination with a 3/4 length sleeping pad - better that the pack stays as dry as possible if this is your intended secondary use of a pack.

Token Civilian

#18

You guys are all talking mostly about dealing with rain during the day while you’re hiking. What about at night when you are sleeping? Did you sleep under a tarp or a tent or even a poncho with a bivy? What do you recommend? And about geographically where does the rain start? Or should I be asking when the rain starts?

Piper

#19

We had rain on our second night on the trail. IOW, expect it the entire way. Chances are you won’t get much, but you might be unpleasantly surprised. We didn’t have much rain in southern CA, but friends in other years ran into some very cold nasty weather when they hiked a couple of years later.

You will likely get rain in the Sierras and northern California (thunderstorms), and will probably have serious rain or snow in Washington. We were snowed on the day we intended to cross Forester Pass (so we turned around). We also had some memorable (gullywasher) storms in northern California and a couple of forgettable rains in Oregon, plus seven days of rain/snow in Washington.

We carried a tent (Henry Shires). I wanted protection from mosquitoes from the Sierras north and felt like it was some protection against snakes climbing into our sleeping bags in the desert. We slept out from time to time, but almost every time we did the dew soaked us. I didn’t expect dew in the dry mountains of the PCT. Others we knew slept out every night with no problem. I’ve also met people who didn’t get rained on until they reached Washington. Every hike is different.

Ginny

#20

I’m mostly concerned with the rain of Washington. It will be colder and the rain goes on for days sometimes up there so I hear (I only went to Mt. Shasta last year). I’m leaning toward a large tarp for that area because of how wetness on the tarp does not pose an issue as it might in a tent if the inside of the tent gets wet when you fold it up and put it away.

I’ll have protection from mosquitos for sure so that I can sleep without a tent at any time. That was a pleasure I could not enjoy last year because all I had was a tent. I had to close myself off from the sky every night.

Piper