[pct-l] Umbrellas

[CMountainDave at aol.com (CMountainDave@xxxxxxx)]

My umbrella was quickly eaten by the wind and chaparral on my thru hike
   Some time back someone mentioned Birdie Pal umbrellas for hiking
  Now if we can just get a pack that's waterproof and has an umbrella 
attachment that come with it. When I used an external frame pack I got a 2' piece of 
1.5 inch PVC pipe and lashed it to the frame. Then I stuck the umbrella handle 
in it. Worked great until a gust of wind sent it sailing. So then I duct 
taped it to the PVC pipe. Looked like crap but worked. Then the problem was that 
when I took my pack off, the open umbrella was easily damaged by banging into 
things. I suppose I could just carry it just like everyone in the city does, 
but that gets old after 8 hours of hiking. 
 Sometimes I just allow myself to get soaking wet in my supplex nylon duds 
until I make camp. Then I put on my dry Polar Tech stuff. If it keeps raining, I 
crawl into the tent and sleeping bag after hanging my wet clothes under a 
tree shelter to drip dry. If it stops raining, I have a campfire, dry EVERYTHING 
out and continue on the next morning as if it had never even rained -- 
assuming of course that it has stopped raining
 Speaking of rain, it's now pouring like a bovine doing you know what you 
know where. What a surprise on a December day in the lowlands of Puget Sound, eh? 
No need for REI's rain gear test today -- just step outside for ten minutes