[pct-l] 1.1 ounce nylon ripstop vs desert plants

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

In Southern California, when it is raining it is usually fairly cold.  
Not hot and humid like the AT. You can be fairly comfortable in  
lightweight waterproof rain gear. I wore thin silnylon "full moon"  
rain chaps and was sometimes too warm so I just wore shorts  
underneath and pulled the chaps up to my knees and let the lower part  
of my legs get wet. When it was really cold, then I kept my lower  
legs covered.

I never could tell what was the difference between having wet  
silnylon against my skin and having wet skin. It all felt the same.  
What made all the difference was having something dry to sleep in.  
Since I slept in my clothes, having rain chaps was helpful. I don't  
think goretex rain gear would be necessary and you probably would get  
too hot in them. I've lived in So Cal all my life and never used  
goretex.

The trail isn't choked with scratchy chaparral very much. You should  
be okay. Bring some duck tape just in case.

On Feb 20, 2013, at 7:30 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:04:15 -0800
> From: Mike Rumsey <mikerumsey51 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [pct-l] 1.1 ounce nylon ripstop vs desert plants
>
> Also, have any of you traveled without waterproof gear?  I've done  
> some
> hiking in the rain using GoreTex and it's pretty miserable.  It  
> seems like
> you end up wet while hiking no matter what you wear.  I was  
> planning on
> just bringing the nylon shells, thermals and an umbrella.  I'd bring
> perhaps a down vest for hanging around camp.  It this a reasonable  
> idea?
>
> - Mike