[pct-l] rain theory

[steve_peterson at sbcglobal.net (Steve Peterson)]

I'm not sure, but I may not have been clear about one thing: I _do_ think it is 
worth going to quite a bit of trouble to stay as dry as possible for as long as 
possible. I just don't think that one will come out of 5-8 days of 
hiking/camping in solid rain without being fairly wet--though I'm not sure that, 
if careful, one's bag/dry clothing would necessarily be "soaked" (which I define 
as "can wring the water out"). I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that, 
as I see it, the problem has more sides to it than just staying warm when hiking 
wet.

Also, the transition between hiking and camping is often where water (as opposed 
to water vapor) seeps into things. Getting yourself dry in a tight space is not 
easy if the goal is to keep everything else dry. Ditto for getting out in the 
morning. It's quite a bit easier to keep the dry clothes dry while they're in 
the pack in a dry bag; keeping them dry during unpacking/sleeping/repacking is 
quite a bit harder, though I'm not saying they'll be soaked the first time you 
do that--it appears to me to be a gradual wetting. For example, I've camped in 
one place for a week of foul weather and stayed almost entirely dry. But I could 
build a fire and wasn't unpacking/repacking each night in the rain.

If weight/bulk were not a concern, the wet clothing issue could be mitigated by 
taking extra clothes--at the extreme, a set for each night, each in its own dry 
bag. But you probably aren't going to be willing to carry that much weight/bulk 
(I'm certainly not). However, one extra change cuts the problem in half--now you 
only have to keep clothing acceptably dry for two or three nights (assuming 5-6 
days between resupply points). Further refinements along this line are obviously 
possible.

As to the "best" synthetic insulation, I don't have a definitive answer, but a 
"very good" one is Polarguard 3D. I made a quilt from it last year but I haven't 
tried it out wet yet (an experiment I plan to try). It wasn't warm enough for me 
for the Sierras, so I've now got a Nunatak (down) quilt that I plan to use until 
Washington. Haven't decided yet what I'm taking after Cascade Locks.  The fabric 
covering for whatever (down/synthetc, bag/quilt) you choose makes a big 
difference in terms of water resistance. As far as clothing goes, I've been 
using capilene and been happy with it, though I've only been wet in 50-ish 
temps. It dries very quickly. I've only used the lightweight stuff so I don't 
know what the heavier weights are like when wet or wet in colder temps.


Dan Schmidt wrote:
> So if getting SOAKED is inevitable, and I apologize if I am rehashing
> an old debate, what synthetic insulates the best even when wet?
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