[pct-l] rain theory

[steve_peterson at sbcglobal.net (Steve Peterson)]

I've been thinking along similar lines for a while. As a runner who ran in rain, 
snow and sleet, I know that being wet per se (at least for short periods of 
time) is not the problem. It's being cold and wet. I think of the natives in the 
tropical jungles who wear next to nothing yet walk around in tropical 
rain--they're wet as hell, but they're not cold.

I've thought that making waterproof rain gear that allows strenuous exercise yet 
keeps the wearer dry is probably impossible; that perhaps the problem is better 
thought of as "allow in  as much water as the body can tolerate without getting 
cold" which is a much easier problem to solve. By allowing a small amount of 
water in, one can more easily allow a lot more bodily-generated water vapor to 
exit, with the net result that perhaps you stay a little drier (that's drier, 
not "dry") and be warm (or at least warm enough).

As long as one can dry off at the end of the day (before getting chilled) and 
put on warm dry clothes, that idea works. As a runner, I often ran in 50F rainy 
weather with just a t-shirt and shorts, stayed warm while running, and didn't 
die of hypothermia when I stopped because I dove into a warm building/warm 
shower/dry, warm clothes. That's harder to do when hiking because you take a 
certain amount of time find a decent place to pitch the tent/tarp, pitch it, and 
get dry (without wetting the dry stuff). I found on my recent JMT trip that I 
got chilled within 15 minutes of stopping, and I wasn't wet, just cold (it was 
very windy, however).

But with days of rain, getting into a dry environment (bag, clothes) is a lot 
harder to do. If you think of rain as gently falling straight down from the sky, 
it's easy to fool oneself into thinking "OK, I'm in the tent (dry), the 
clothes/sleeping bag are in a dry sack (dry), I'll put on wet clothes to go back 
out into the rain--I'll be OK". But that isn't how the rain works a lot of the 
time. Sometimes you're camping in a real wind storm that's blowing rain all 
over--it's hard to keep stuff dry pitching the tarp/tent and packing it back up, 
and hard to keep stuff perfectly dry when you stop for bathroom breaks or to 
eat, etc. Then, too, there's the problem of condensation in the tent. Even if no 
actual water touches anything that's supposed to stay dry (unlikely), things 
eventually get moist and clammy from the vapor itself. That's why some people 
advocate synthetic bags [no, this is not an invitation to start that 
discussion!] Finally, there's the problem that often you're going to be camping 
_in_ a cloud. If you let any of that mist into your tent (you do plan to 
breathe, no?), things are going to get wet eventually. Day after day, the 
moisture distributes itself throughout your gear and with no chance to disperse 
it, the gear just gets wetter and wetter. After, say, 5 days, I think things are 
going to get pretty uncomfortable.

I think you're on the right track as far as the hiking part goes. The hard part 
is dealing with camping. The Native Americans of the PNW, as far as I know, 
weren't nomadic (like thru-hikers) and therefore could use wooden shelters, have 
  a source of relatively dry wood, keep fires burning, and stay out of the worst 
weather. I'm not totally pessimistic, however--I think there are _better_ 
answers for thru-hikers out there; I just don't have them (yet) and as an '05 
wannabe, time is runnning out :-)

   --Steve

Dan Schmidt wrote:
>  I lived in Portland, OR for many years as a commuter
> cyclist and quickly gave up on any rain gear for prolonged rides and
> instead just got wet and the ride kept me warm.  Of course, there was
> always someplace warm to end up.  I was wondering if a similar theory
> might work on the trail for prolonged rain ( I mean DAYS prolonged.)
> Save the "breathable waterproof" rain gear and a set of warm clothes
> for when hiking stops (which is generally when you are ready to set up
> camp), hike in clothes that insulate when wet (maybe use an umbrella?)
>  But anyway, the point is NOT to think you cant get wet while hiking
> in prolonged rain, instead enjoy the wetness (by wearing the most
> insulated clothes when wet(which is wool, fleece, or other
> synthetics??) and maybe an umbrella) and keep moving.  I am assuming
> Native Americans thrived in the Northwest and never had gore-tex.
> Dan
> _______________________________________________
> pct-l mailing list
> pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> unsubscribe or change options:
> http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>