[pct-l] Shelters

[Brian Lewis]

Piper wrote: "As I sat home during last August and September, I read that a
lot of people found their ultralight shelters didn't do very well in the
Pacific NW rain."

I suspect this is (or mostly) not about the tent in question being
inadequate, but rather about the person adjusting to rain (as you know,
there was very little of it for most of the trip).  Wishing for a better
rain shelter doesn't mean that the selected shelter didn't work.

In normal years I hike mostly in Washington state, and if I could know in
advance that I would be hiking in many days of continuous rain, I'd incline
to a double-wall tent as being worth the extra weight.  But in most
situations if I were confident of that much continuous rain, I'd just stay
home!    Thus for an August - September trip I'd still be inclined to a
lightweight single-wall tent.   While I had to towel off the inside at times
this year --- because indeed, we had a fairly long wet spell this year given
the time of year (from White Pass to north of Steven's Pass for me) --- I
was still well sheltered in my tarptent.   I think in a more average year
you would experience less rainy days and with a little "how to deal"
experience most people would do fine with a tarptent.

I was pleased with the approach I used last year: no tent for the first 700
miles: six light stakes & a little cord and a poncho to serve as both tarp
and raingear (hardly ever used as either one), plus an ultralight (not
standalone rain-proof) bivy.   Then from Kennedy Meadows to Canada a solo
singlewall tent of some sort.


Brian Lewis / Gadget
http://postholer.com/brianle