[pct-l] rain gear

[Eric Lee (GAMES)]

Taildragger wrote:
>
Am I completely stupid for thinking that an emergency poncho and my
marmot driclime to be enough for the weather?
>

That depends.  Are you completely comfortable with your ability to stay safe with just an emergency poncho and a Driclime in blowing rain or eight inches of wet snow?  Have you actually tried it before in similar conditions?  As Donna just wrote, even SoCal you're often up in high, remote, mountainous areas that are known to have very bad weather through at least June.  Don't be fooled into thinking that "desert" means "guaranteed good weather".

That doesn't mean you have to go completely overboard with the gear.  Just have experience with your gear in all conditions that you could reasonably foresee and know how best to use it to stay safe.  Personally, my bad-weather gear for Washington in spring/summer/fall is the following:

*  Full-length silnylon poncho
*  Waterproof rain hat
*  Waterproof rain pants
*  Waterproof boots
*  Ultra-light wind shirt
*  Marmot Driclime vest
*  Western Mountaineering Flight down jacket

That gear isn't adequate for a full-on winter storm but it'll do (for me!) for three-season hiking in the Northwest.  If I run into weather where it's not enough, I can hunker down in my large tarp and sleeping bag until it passes.  My gear setup isn't crazy ultra-light, but my full load-out (minus food and water) is only 13.5 pounds, which is very decent, I think.

For SoCal, I'd most likely take the same list of gear, with the possible exception of tweaking the boots and hat for more desert-appropriate gear.

Eric