[pct-l] Shelter Skelter

[griffin at u.washington.edu (Tom Griffin)]

I just want to add that I had a tent with a rain fly when I did my Section H
hike in Washington State last year. It was a two-person tent, so we each
carried half the weight, about 2 pounds each. The first week of the trip we
never even set up the rainfly. The second week we had rain for four days
straight, including some classic Cascade downpours. The other party we were
hiking with that week had a single-wall tent and no rainfly. All their
gear--including the sleeping bags--got wet. Here is a photo of them trying
to dry a sleeping bag over a fire:

http://staff.washington.edu/griffin/drying_bag.jpg

In our tent with the rainfly we stayed relatively dry. This was during the
first two weeks of September, when many thru hikers reach Washington. While
a tarp or bivy sounds great for the first part of the trip, if you are going
to be hiking in Washington in September or October, I'd take a tent. Your
mileage may vary...

Tom Griffin
Seattle
PCT Pages: http://staff.washington.edu/griffin/pct.html


> From: "David Craft" <chsyhkr@bellsouth.net>
> Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 21:47:35 -0400
> To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Subject: [pct-l] Shelter Skelter
> 
> How about a tarp for most of California and then switching to a tent in
> Oregon and Washington.  Carrying a tent to the Sierra is a big waste of
> effort.  It may rain on you once or twice at night, probably not at
> all.............
> 
> It never rains in Southern California!  Almost.............
> 
> David Craft
> Greensboro, NC