[pct-l] JMT in late August with poncho rainfly

[Diane Soini]

The biggest issue I'm experiencing right now with the rain in the  
Sierra is that I can set up my tent and have a dry space to sleep, but  
in the morning when I pack it up, the nice dry floor will get soaking  
wet as soon as I fold it up. If there's no sun for me to dry it, I'm  
going to have a wet bathtub to sleep in when I go to set it up again.  
So far I've been lucky enough to have a chance to dry it each day.

With a floorless tarp, all you have is a roof. Who cares if the roof  
is wet? You don't have to dry it out if you don't want. You're not  
going to find yourself zipped up into a wet plastic bag when you use a  
tarp.

I've been using my bivy sack to protect my sleeping bag inside my  
tent, as I would with a poncho tarp. Those wet walls are awful close,  
you know. I've heard of others waking up to frost on the inside roof.  
One wrong move and it'll all fall on your bag.

There really is no fool-proof protection from rain. You're going to  
get wet if there's enough of it. I think in August you're likely to  
see the sun some time during the day and have a chance to dry out  
anything that got wet. Even though you can have thunder showers or  
snow in August, it's not likely the weather is going to be like it is  
right now with this endless low pressure system lasting for weeks. You  
can always bail out on your trip if the weather is bad, too.