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[pct-l] Pacific Nth West Rain



Just 9 days. We hiked most of the AT last year in rain that bad.  Our
journal seemed like it rained nearly every day until New Hampshire. Single
wall tent in torential rain, saturated ground with inch deep water running
down the trails, 100% humidity, "re-rain" falling from the leaves of the
broadleaf forest, and pea soup fog.  An all that was at once on Mt Killian
in Vermont.

Ahhh, the memories. Wish I was there now instead of sitting at a desk.

By the way, we found the quickest way to dry a soaked down bag was to hang
it in a motel room with the air conditioner cranked way up.

Ken

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Bighummel@aol.com>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 4:18 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Pacific Nth West Rain


> A couple days of rain make the hardest day ever?  Try 9 days and nights of
> straight constant rain in 1977.  Two groups quit just a few hundred miles
south
> of the border after sitting in their tent for 4 days straight.
>
> My partner and I each had a two man double wall tent so that we could
bring
> all of our gear inside in these situations and it and we still became
> completely soaked through regardless.  The double wall tents handled
condensation in
> this cold rain pretty well and my first edition polarguard bag, though
clammy
> moist still kept me warmer than my partner's wet down bag. We walked from
about
> 50 miles north of Mt. Rainier all of  the way to a day north of Kennedy
Hot
> Springs in the rain, because, well, there wasn't anything else to do;
averaging
> 20 to 25 miles per day.  We took a zero day at Kennedy Hot Springs in the
tool
> shed because it offered the best shelter from the rain that we had found.
We
> hung our tents upside down from the rafters and the sleeping bags over
some
> piles of cut wood in the hopes of drying out but the humidity was 100% (of
> course) and they just dripped the solid water off.  We ran into a couple
that had
> come over from England to hike in the PNW for 7 days in late August.  They
> were walking out as it was their 7th day and it had rained on them the
entire
> time.  They were pretty upset.
>
> On the tenth morning the sun came out and dried our tents and sleeping
bags
> out.  We strung all of our clothes out to dry in the first few hours also.
We
> were camped on one of the high ridges on the north side of Glacier Peak
and
> all of the peaks surrounding us in the panoramic view were all capped in
snow.
>
> Now, THAT was one of the BEST days of the hike!
>
> Best regards,
>
> Strider
>
> P.S. Just remember, the packs were heavier, the snow was deeper, the
deserts
> were hotter, the mosquitos were bigger, the sky was bluer, the passes were
> higher and the rain was heavier in '77! ;-)
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