Questions I just thought of...oh dear God

imported
#1

Okay, so you’re hiking the AT, and it starts raining. It rains and rains and then rains even harder. Pretty much, you’re hiking in rain all day long. Your clothing is soaked. YOU are soaked. You get to your destination and pitch your tent, ready to eat and perhaps write in your journal. Now what.
Okay, perhaps i should have said at the beginning, i have VERY LITTLE experience with hiking, backpacking, camping. The experience i do have has involved fairly nice weather, and so i haven’t had to deal with this little problem. Can you cook inside your tent, or is that unsafe? What the hell do you do with your soaking wet clothes?? Just fold them neatly in a corner and hope they dry while you hike in them the next day?? What do you do with your backpack? Keep it inside the tent with you? Is your food kept in a seperate bag, and THAT’S bag that you hang in a tree? Anything else other than food i should hang? Boots inside tent or out?
I really hope the March 1st crew this year is a friendly one, willing to offer advice to pathetic, though determined, souls. I know these questions may sound like common sense to you, but to me…I’m, well…wish me luck.

C-Giddy

#2

Try to get to the shelter early enough to get a spot. If you don’t, I would recommend getting into your sleeping bag with your wet clothes on. Your body will dry them. Hang your pack in the shelter or on a broken off tree branch next to the tree with your pack cover on. I would bring your boots in with you.
Definitely do not cook in your tent. Eat a cold meal or cook in the rain with your rain gear on. If this year is anything like last year, this scenario will happen all too often. No pain, no rain, no Maine.

Bankrobber

#3

“Okay, so you’re hiking the AT, and it starts raining. It rains and rains and then rains even harder. Pretty much, you’re hiking in rain all day long. Your clothing is soaked. YOU are soaked. (Most times if it raining you’ll try and hit a shelter.)You get to your destination and pitch your tent, ready to eat and perhaps write in your journal. Now what. Can you cook inside your tent, or is that unsafe? (NO, YOU CAN NOT COOK IN YOUR TENT!You may cook in the vestible if you have one and not near the tent fabric, it’s flammible as gasoline.)What the hell do you do with your soaking wet clothes?? (Wring them out ahng hang them in the shelter, put on your remaining dry stuff.)Hike in them the next day?? (Yup, slide into those cold wet Things and get on with it.)What do you do with your backpack? Keep it inside the tent with you? Is your food the bag that you hang in a tree? (Yes or the shelter). Anything else other than food I should hang? (Not really, although mice and porcupines like salt and will chew boots, deer too). Boots inside tent or out? I really hope the March 1st crew is willing to offer advice to pathetic, though determined, souls. I know these questions may sound like common sense to you, but to me…I’m, well…wish me luck.” Just ask, we’ll help. No question is to stupid.

Bushwhack

#4

C-Giddy, I agree with Bushwhack, your question is not stupid. It is valuable info we will all need to know, even if it is just a reminder. Us 3-1 people may turn out to be the “Stupid Human Trick’s People Play Show”, but man we will be living large and loving it!

I would expect rain, significant rain, once a week. I would personally keep about 20ft of some kind of light rope, to make a clothes line with. It is great to hang in the shelter with all your stuff to air out, even when it isn’t raining. We stink man! hehehe

The boots are ok in the tent.

Oh, be sure to have some sort of dry clothes used in camp. I know it is weird putting on dry clothes then taking them off to put on damp, if not saturated clothes from sweat from yesterday, and mine never dried, but it may keep ya from getting too frigid at night.

Burn

#5

This is a good question. Most weekend hikers are fair weather hikers - if a storm is expected, we wisely stay home. But on a thruhike you will have to deal with all sorts of weather - rain, snow, ice, heat, etc.

As others have said, on the AT you aim for the shelter if the weather is bad and the mileage works out. But sometimes that doesn’t work. Too many people, too many miles, injury, etc. may have you sleeping out. And of course, on most other trails in this country, you have no shelters. So, what do you do? Generally, if it isn’t raining all that hard, and you aren’t feeling really cold, you go ahead and cook dinner before changing your clothes. If it is raining hard and you are feeling the cold, then you put up your tent, crawl in, wring out your clothes and jump into whatever dry (or dryish) clothes you have kept in a ziplock just for this occasion. Get into your sleeping bag to warm up. If you are feeling the cold/hypothermic - get out some snacks and eat as soon as possible. It will help you get warm. Dinner may be tomorrow’s lunch (you can always eat pasta for lunch at one of the shelters you pass during the day) or just cookies and candy bars or gorp. Been there, done that, too many times to remember. (Be warned, you will need about twice as many snacks as you are planning right now. You get HUNGRY.)

Then in the morning you put on your cold wet smelly clothes, carefully pack up your dry camp clothes, wrap your sleeping bag in its plastic bag again, put the pack cover on and take off for the day. A warning - on the AT there is a lot of low brush. Even if it stops raining during the night, you are likely to get soaked again pretty quickly from brushing against the blueberries, etc. So don’t put on your dry socks after a wet night.

What you put in your tent depends on the tent. The Wanderlust we use is big enough to put boots and an empty pack either inside or under the vestibule. If not, then hang the pack on a tree branch. Hang the food in a tree before you get in the tent and change your clothes. (Get out dinner first, if you’re eating cold.)

The hardest parts for me of hiking in the rain are 1) putting on the toxic clothes in the morning and 2) feeling like I can’t stop to take breaks while I am hiking in the rain because I get cold so easily. I don’t mind eating cookies for dinner, though it can make me have to ration them for the rest of the stretch, which I don’t like. Best parts - no drought; the world can be transformed by the rain, in some very nice ways - like azalea petals lining the trail in Virginia made me feel like a bride as I hiked through, clouds above, below and all around you can be dramatic and beautiful and mysterious; I love lieing snug in my sleeping bag and listening to rain and snow on the tent - I feel so safe. I remember walking through Grayson Highlands and having a cloud part just in front of me giving me a tiny glimpse of a wild horse rearing about 10 feet away before the cloud dropped again.

Spirit Walker

#6

Your getting some good advice allready but I would like to add a couple of things. Critters are attracted to toothpaste so some people put their toothbrush and past in the food bag prior to hanging. It is not a good idea to cook in the tent but I did get really good at setting everything up under the overhang of my tent and cooking through the door. Sometimes you get a little extra water in the food but no big deal. Always have a set of dry clothes to get into at night including some nice warm socks. keep a dry polypro hat to sleep in. I had a frame pack and would lean it against a tree with the rain cover on it and put my boots under it. On real cold nights I would bring the damp stuff into my sleeping bag for a few minutes to warm up. This would include my boots. After several days of rain you will go a little stir crazy in the tent. This is really true early on when the days are short. A good fire also is a blessing on a wet day. Most important keep a positive attitude about the rain. In the middle of the hot summer you will look back fondly on the cool wet days of spring.

Big B

#7

Hey C-G, wanna funny one? First section hike out. September’00. Asked the Ranger at Amicalola Falls if he thought it would rain today. He game me a big grin/smirk and said - “IT"S GONNA RAIN…it usually does…” Nope didn’t rain. Okay, I’m good. First and second days of the hike were great; no problems. Third day I got REAL HUNGRY. Checked my food rations and freaked. I was so hungry that I was positive I would not have enough food so(I had MORE than enough) left the trail that day in lieu of starving.

Second section hike out. June '01. Mentally prepared myself for being hungry so I wouldn’t freak. First, second day great. Third day started to rain. That’s okay, I had rain gear. I’m good. It rained and rained and rained. Leaked thru pack cover and bag is wet. Body couldn’t breathe under rain gear so I was sweating and wet. Started shivering; was sure I was in the beginning stages of hypothermia. Paranoia set in and decided to pitch tent instead of trying to get to the next shelter. Not good. Tent is now leaking and puddle is forming on floor. Everything is totally soaked. Why didn’t I seal the seams like I was told!!?? Why didn’t I buy “breathable” rain gear? A pack-cover that fit would’ve been good. Left tent to seek help as I was totally FREAKED now. Life or death situation right? (laugh) To stay alive I stayed with a youth group that nite. Made it to the next shelter the next day and tried to dry my clothes over my Whisperlite stove. HA! Left trail for home and comfort the next day. I’ve been back a few times since then and am now definitely more prepared.

Moral of story. Your questions are necessary. Ask here and read up. I wish I had. Besides the physical gear, I found the mental preparation was just as important. Also, a lot of what you learn, happens on the Trail as you go along. I have to laugh every time I think of those first times out as a novice backpacker. haha :lol

peep

#8

Agree with advice given by Burn and Bushwhack and others given above, but I also offer the following:

I see this question sort of as: I’m on top of a cliff, I fall off.

Answer: Don’t fall off

I see a rattlesnake, I play with him, I get bit.

Answer: Don’t play with him and don’t get bit.

I hike in rain, I get soaking wet.

Answer: Use rain gear, go slow, and if real bad, get out of rain. And don’t get soaking wet.

I have been soaking wet and cold as heck, shivering and the whole nine yards. It is not fun. And I do not mean to belittle your question and I am not, but any experienced hiker would not get “soaked”. They would have good rain gear, put it on, hike slow so as not to overheat inside the rain gear, etc. You can also if you sweat too much with rain gear on, take clothes off beneath rain gear (that way it and you will stay dry). I can hike all day long in a pouring down rain and not get wet inside (from sweat) or out. You’ve just got to use your rain gear and hike slow.

So my answer is don’t get wet in the first place, don’t fall off a cliff, don’t get rattlesnake bit, don’t break your leg-----but if you do, learn from the experience and do the best you can. BTW, in my opinion no rain gear worth having is breathable, you just have to hike slow so as not to overheat when wearing rain gear or take some clothes off beneath the rain gear so you will be confortable and won’t overheat.

If you do get soaking wet, try to make it to a shelter, wring clothes out by hand as much as possible and hang out inside shelter to dry. A short clothes line as suggested by Burn is a good idea. You can also get under a shelter cliff overhang, build a fire and dry you clothes out there.

Best advice however is: Don’t get soaking wet in the first place.

Just my opinion based on my experience. Hope it helps.

See you out there. :cheers

Maintain

#9

In a nut shell this is what works for me. Regardless of weather I hike in shorts and a tee shirt. I carry my everyday hiking clothes and my sleeping cloths. I only carry one pair of shorts, two pairs of socks (only liners), one tee shirt then my sleeping gear (cold weather it is long johns and rain pants) and in warm weather it is nothing or maybe another shirt. When you get to camp cold and wet make sure you get out of your cold wet cloths, have a cup of coffee or hot cocoa or whatever and get into dry sleeping cloths. I put on my rain gear then. I find if I hike in rain gear I get wet anyway. So I would rather stay dry in camp. I set my tarp and bedding up then fix dinner. In the beginning I would recommend you stay near shelters where you can meet other hikers (and you will realize that a lot of people have little or no experience also). It is a great way to spend an evening… chit chatting with your new family. Lay back and groove and read the shelter journals… they are great! If you feel hypothermic (cold, teeth chattering uncontrollable shivering) Make sure you get inside your nice dry and warm sleeping bag and eat some hot food. You need to warm up your innards…

Everyone has different methods… try different things and see what works for you…

Peace,

Aswah the Ignorant

p.s. an asked question is the only stupid question.

p.p.s.s. here are my responses for your questions.

p.p.p.s.s.s. By the time you reach Katahdin you will be very experienced in all things about camping… be sure to pass on the knowledge and love…

One LOve,

Aswah

Can you cook inside your tent, or is that unsafe?

I tarp, so the answer is yes… I always cook in my tarp. Just be careful not to burn yourself or your tent/tarp.

What the hell do you do with your soaking wet clothes??

wring them out and lay them under my therma rest. that dries them a little. But in the AM you will be putting on cold wet stinky cloths.

What do you do with your backpack?

I use my pack as a pillow

Is your food kept in a seperate bag, and THAT’S bag that you hang in a tree?

I always slept with my food. I do not want to start a controversy so do what feels comfortable to you. I never ever had bear problems.

Boots inside tent or out?

If they are wet and it is sub zero I would recommend wrapping them in a garbage bag and sleeping with them in your sleeping bag. Also sleep with your water. Just make that is sealed tightly.

I really hope the March 1st crew this year is a friendly one, willing to offer advice to pathetic, though determined, souls. I know these questions may sound like common sense to you, but to me…I’m, well…wish me luck.

My friend… I will see you on the trail and I will always be happy to help another person. You are going to find that 99.9 percent of thru hikers are the most wonderful and warm people on the planet. We are one…

Peace,

ASWAH

Aswah

#10

p.s. an unasked question is a stupid question

aswah

#11

By Damascus you will feel invincible, like you can handle it all. Then you have VA to do… You will be suprised at the number of first time back packers you will meet attemting to Thru. Met a few that made the distance last year. It’s your attitude that gets you to Maine. Remember, it is worse thinking about walking in the rain than it is walking in the rain.

yo-yo

#12

1st; by the end of your 1st 5 days; your gonna be an expert backpacking person. make it past neels; and its smooth sailing. you can do it!

ok. now the questions. no open flames in tents. no cigarettes. no candles. no incense. no firecrackers; etc. quick way to end up dead is burning in a tent. we dont want that.

soaking wet clothes. well; depends on personal preference. i dont wear rainclothes when hiking. i change into them when i am done to keep my dry and warm. when i get to my destination; but rainclothes on OVER wet clothes; then let them dry a bit. remove. wring excess water if any. hang up. go take cold rain shower. dont worry; no one walks behind the shelter in the rain; and the water pouring off the back of the shelter makes a good shower stream. towel off with tiny peice of pack towel or bandana. before bed put on wet clothes. sleep in them. they will dry quickly as u sleep. (if u really cant stand sleeping in wet clothes; put your wet clothes in your bag and they will dry by morning.)

if im in a shelter; backpack goes on the wall with ALL POCKETS OPEN. why? mice will chew open your pockets for fun. SERIOUSLY. they like to look in them. if u leave the pockets open so they can explore; chances are they will not chew holes in your pack. if im tenting; pack goes in tent with me; ive got room.

Food. this includes toothpaste, toothbrush; shampoo; anything u carry that smells edible (if u carry soap; shampoo; etc) goes into a waterproof sack. u hang this. follow your own rules here; in bear country hang by bear pole; tree method; etc. dont use white rope. bears can see it. get black rope. or blue rope. something bears cant see at night. true story. bears will walk past dark colored ropes to white ones and pull the ones they can see till the food comes down.

i dont know how much you paid for your boots; but they were my most expensive investment. they go everywhere with me. inside my tent. in a shelter; they go right by my head. its not that i am not a trusting person ok? but lets say you and person X both have brand Y boot. he’s a 9.5; you are a 10. he grabs your boots by mistake. its early; he’s not looking; boots loosen up if they are leather. he’s like my they feel comfy this morning. im doing a 20. he’s gone. u wake up 20 minutes later. make breakfast; go to put on your boots. hmmmmmm. god these feel tight this am. better put on some more conditioner at the next town. Now probably mr 9.5 has noticed something wrong by now; looked over the boots and realized they are the wrong ones and hopefully come back for his. what if he hasnt? you were supposed to do 12 miles into town today to fill your empty food bag and now you’ve got boots too small. your feet are blistering. you’ve got to get new boots if u cant track down your old ones. Honest mistakes occur. most of them get corrected. but my boots are the key to my whole hike. protect them with your life.

and like yo-yo said; most times walking in the rain isnt bad at all. its nasty when its 38 and the rain is super cold and its been falling all day and there is no end.

but say it was 85 at 9 in the am and humid. you’ve been hiking 2 hours drinking a liter ever 1/2 hour. then a nice light rain starts to fall. OH heaven. you could hike like this for hours.

just remember. a bad day hiking is still better than a good day doing anything else; except maybe fishing.

Big Boy

#13

A great question to which you have received wise advice. Since I plan to begin on March 1, please ask for any assistance. I have found hikers friendly and helpful. If you cook next to your tent, be mindful of carbon monoxide. I use a Wanderlust tarp/tent and can cook under the vestibule. If it is late, I eat peanut butter and crackers. Try to drink a lot of water even in cold weather.
Looking forward to the March 1 starters.

Mickey-One-Sock

#14

I think everyone’s a little different on how they handle this. I used to hike and just expect to get wet. If it’s cold, your body and raingear will keep you warm. The key, though, is to keep your sleeping bag and sleeping clothes dry at all costs and don’t stop for too long if its really cold. You have to keep your heart and body pumping to stay warm.

When you stop for the day (again, if it’s cold), you really need to change soon and get dry. My pack was always lined with a garbage bag and I would twist the top and close the pack over it. This kept my things dry even in a pouring rain and even if my pack cover leaked. I never got out my bag until I knew it wouldn’t get wet (in a shelter or inside the tent).

I kept the pack inside my tent and laid my wet clothes (after I wrung them out) on the pack or hung them up. I could never bring myself to bring my clothes inside my bag with me, but I’m sure it would have helped. I did bring my boots in once or twice to keep them warm, but put them inside a plastic bag. This was only after putting on frozen boots more than one morning in a row. (Aaaaah! Yes, it’s horrible)

As everyone else has said, you HAVE to put those wet clothes back on for the hike. I learned this the hard way after soaking everything I had and realizing it was STILL raining and I still had a couple of days to town! The worst part is just getting them on. (Think cold, wet bra on a 20 degree morning! You just scream and get going : ) I always just put it off until the very end and then swung my pack on and started walking, generating heat. The clothes either dried out (if the sun came out), or at least warmed up from your body heat if it was still raining.

By the way, even if there’s not enough room for you to sleep inside the shelter, often people don’t mind if you cook, in the shelter when it’s raining. Then you can head back out to your tent to sleep. The other option, like they said, is cold dinner.

Now,on the same topic, I have a question. Has anyone hiked on the AT with an umbrella. Golite has one:

http://www.backcountrygear.com/catalog/accessdetail.cfm/GO9010

It does seem like it would be a good option. Anyone?

Jukebox

#15

I’ve heard of it, but not very much at all.

In some places, it will work good, in other places, not so well—too many overhead branches, etc. There are those umbrellas you wear like a hat and if you got a big one, it would probably work fairly well and keep hands free for using hiking poles and also keep you fairly dry and well vented so you won’t heat up so much.

A regular umbrella could serve a possible triple function: Umbrella, hiking staff, and weapon. As a matter of fact, a little silnylon which is very lightweight and very waterproof, added to hiking poles and you could have the making of a very nice combination hiking pole tarp, very easy to setup and take down. Adds very little weight to the poles and also keeps it off your back, shoulders and hips.

See you out there. :cheers

Maintain

#16

Oh…snack all day when it is cold. that constant fuel gives ya the uhmmmf to push on, keeps you warm cause food=fuel and generates heat. a little here a little there keeps the digestion process producing BTUs. Macadamean nuts are pure fire in the woods. i am carrying some to drop 2 or 3 an hour in the old gullot. the fat in the nuts keep ya toastie roastie.

Oh and we are making maintain a friar tuck hat to keep his head dry so he doesn’t have to carry an umbrella la la. hehehe

burn

#17

guy who is helping me isn’t up yet…Spirit I loved your horse tale.

A friend of mine and I hiked a small part of Roan Mt in Feb 2002. My first experience with backpacking. Way too much stuff in my pack. But I had dry clothes. The weather was raining, sleeting, snowing and icing all at the same time with sideways winds at maybe 30 mph gusts or more. About 2 miles which seemed like 4 or 5 miles into our trip my buddy says I have 10 mins. I asked 10 mins for what? he says he will go into hypothermia and die in 10 mins. I said it’s been nice knowing you.

Truth is, you feel worse than you really are. He knew something I didn’t know. His pack was essentially empty. No real dry clothes to speak of. He had what he had on his back and it was soaked. When we got lost on Grassy Bald, we set tent to warm him up and i discovered he had no dry clothes and i flipped. we had to hike out. I couldn’t see letting the poor Bastid freeze. but i was pist for the 6 hr trip back to nashville. and at times still.

carry extra clothes, in a plastic bag for just in case. I have to agree, you get wet under rain gear. it keeps you toastie warm. food generates heat. dry clothes reserves adds confidence.

Now get this, and I know from inexperience, that I may be the cold weinie who hikes out for a few days for the weather to flip to the 40’s and 50’s again. That is your own hike. No need to get in over yer head if you don’t feel like it. I may even be the only one who wants to stay and tough it out. I am too0 inexperienced to know what will happen or what I will decide. My current approach is to stay close to the crowd in threatening weather. Stay near the trail when weather is severe. This gives a little bit better chance of being found, per chance something unforseen happens.

In extreme winter in the smokies, I have heard that the rangers and rescue teams come out to get the hikers off the mountain. (Since I lived there for 16 years) Now, this may be true, but I would count more on your hiking buds in the interim to keep you fit, sain, and warm in the extremes, or your own best logic of hike your own hike by hiking out to hike another day. That is in just a few days. Stay warm, regroup, eat alot of good nutricious food and restart strong!

I could be wrong. But it is just some prehike thinking

burn

#18

Here’s a few things that worked for me. Walmart sells an “emergency rain parka” for less than a buck. Its hooded and weighs around an ounce. It is fantastic when one gets caught in a downpour…if you get it on in time. Camp stores and gas marts have them along the way but they charge a little more. They drape over your pack and allow for some ventalation and their real benefit is keeping your pack dry. I was able to reuse mine several times before having to buy a new one. I will not hike again without one.

Line your pack with a garbage bag or better yet a trash compactor bag. My bag got soaked from the “bottom up” once when water ran down my pack cover and collected in the bottom “folds.” (I learned right away to loosen them to let the water drain.) The compactor bag, given to me by another hiker who had an extra one in his bounce box really gives you peace of mind. You should be able to get them at large Sears stores though.

I carried silk long underwear for a dry change when at camp. (It was also my “emergency cold weather” under clothes but I never needed them for that.)

I would never cook near my tent. They warned me of the dangers when I bought it. Go cold or cook in the shelter.

I have to disagree with Maintain when he said “any experienced hiker would not get soaked.” Not that I’m all that experienced and I won’t boar you with the details here, but if you read my July 24th Eliza Brook journal entry you’ll see. I also ran into many young hikers that purposely hiked in the rain in shorts and T-shirt like Camelleon…but he got struck by lightening…true story…spent the night in the hospital but that’s a whole nother story.

Skeemer

#19

Lots of really good advice for you above. You might like “Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Backpackin’ Book” by O’Bannon and Clelland. Very good practical advice and way cool illustrations. This is a paperback available at gear stores and, of course, your library.

Hope to see you back out there in April.

Lady Di

#20

Ha… I HATE hiking in rain, and like you I had no backpacking experience before doing the trail. You just learn to deal with the rain… but you have to be prepared for the worst before you go. I remember a day that there was vertical rain all day and I just wanted to pitch my tent and die. However, plan to get to a shelter if you can… they are godsends on a really wet day… or take a moment to go to the deli at the road crossing and get your head back. ALSO… don’t underestimate the value of a long trip to the privy… I remember one day I spent like 30 minutes in a privy to get mentally ready for a 8 mile hike in the sleet and rain somewhere in North Carolina. :girl

windex