I take a small umbrella as well. No such thing as a breathable rain jacket that won't wet out. Found a small one on amazon for $10 that weighs around 5oz. Has about 500 miles on it and is still fine.
I take a small umbrella as well. No such thing as a breathable rain jacket that won't wet out. Found a small one on amazon for $10 that weighs around 5oz. Has about 500 miles on it and is still fine.
I have a friend who won't go hammock camping without his bivy. He loves that bivy. He puts the bivy inside the hammock, and uses a sleeping bag as a top quilt. There is nothing funnier than watching him get in the sleeping bag, inside the bivy, inside the hammock. It takes him about 15 minutes to get properly situated. And then, if he has to take a leak at night, it's all gotta happen again.
Not for me.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
SilverSurfr - I think I did the dance your friend did - maybe not quite as complex - the first time I used a sleeping bag in the hammock. Since then, I’ve learned that if I have to be “in” something, it’s better to get in before I enter the hammock. If your friend is trying to wiggle in after he gets in the hammock, maybe you can suggest that it get in the bivi first, out side the hammock, then sit down and bring his legs in. That works better for me when I’m not just using a TQ/UQ combo.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
I actually never understood the struggle of a sleeping bag. I did it for about a year. Just push your feet in like a TQ, same thing. Then lean up a little and throw the top half up behind you. Lie down and zip up.
As long as my sleeping base layer of clothes are still dry at the end of the day, I'm not too worried about the effects off dampness on my insulation. Each night, your body heat will work some magic, drying while you sleep. That initial feeling of putting on yesterday's wet clothes I could do without.
Dry during the day, when/ if you can. Use a rare sunny patch or windy period without rain to dry your gear.
My UQ protector is usually hung a bit loose so there's a air gap between the UQ, so moisture transference, if any, is minimised, but they will touch during windy gusts.
Resting your arm on cold, clammy, dew laden top quilt 1st thing in the morning or being woken in the middle of the night by that rythmic...tap...tap..tap of water droplets that have somehow found a their way under your tarp & are slowly wetting out your topquilt are just some of the trials & tribulations of wilderness camping. Curse softly & embrace.
Mountain views are good for the soul....& getting to them is good for my waistline.
https://ofuros.exposure.co/
My bug netting has mitigated fog coming in on me to the degree that it hasn’t been an issue like it was without it. I now use bug netting all year round. Does a good job keeping a slight breeze from being noticed in cold weather also.
On particularly humid/foggy/rainy nights, one thing I do is turn on my headlamp to see how much moisture is entering my hammock through the bugnet. When you see these huge clouds of moisture penetrating the bugnet, you realize it's a pretty futile endeavor to even try to mitigate that. And yet, we all do try!
Last edited by SilvrSurfr; 04-05-2020 at 23:27.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
But it does help at least. Better than having no protection like a net less setup.
Using any available time during the day when the rain stops to dry out your gear helps, obviously if it’s nonstop rain days on end but usually there are breaks.
A fire is nice to warm things up, provided it’s not too wet to get one going. You have to watch out that you don’t put those little holes in your expensive gear.
The only kind of rain jacket that will totally stop all the rain is something like Grunden fisherman’s type jacket but you sure can’t hike in one of those. Even your expensive goretex will eventually wet through.
There's 2 things I don't skimp on: good sleeping and staying dry. I have multiple layers of gear protection in my pack: liner, bags/baggies, and a rain cover (open on the bottom so there's not a pooling problem), and a good umbrella. And spare dry sleeping clothes. I can't keep dry from the knees down, but I do pretty well everywhere else. Tends to be pretty wet & cold in New England, so I get plenty of practice.
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