Date: 2010-06-22
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I do not feel awesome today.Seems like I'm experiencing the arthritic manifestation of Lyme disease this time. Last time was cardiac, previous time was neurological. I'm happy not to be skipping heartbeats, and also to have all the feeling in my hands. But ow! At least it doesn't hurt all the time. If the pain weren't intermittent I think I'd have to hit the doctor up for some better drugs.My optimism about getting on the trail quickly, and/or having lots of fun while home, has dimmed.Oh, never mind me over here with the pity party. I'm going to go take a nap.First, though, I'll review some more gear.Sea to Summit Event Dry Sacks: I use these for all my compressible storage. They are pretty good. The roll top provides a handle for the bag. The bags are fairly waterproof provided you don't immerse them. Sadly, this means that when the dry sack is in the bottom of my backpack during a serious rainstorm, my stuff gets wet. Because a puddle forms in my pack. How come my pack doesn't hold water out but does hold water in? That's just not right.Outdoor Products dry sack: without the Event panel, these are not compressible. That's fine for things like my first aid kit and my miscellaneous bag, which I don't want to squish anyway. However, in very vigorous rainstorms, they also are not totally waterproof. If you get in one of those buckets of water, breathing is becoming difficult, soaked to your underwear storms? Yeah. Your stuff will get wet in these dry sacks. I gotta get me one of those trash compactor bags to put everything in.Pack cover: I don't remember the brand. Possibly Granite Gear. Mine has a grommet in the bottom to theoretically keep water from pooling. Doesn't work. It has an elastic cord that cinches it down, and the excess snaps around to the front of your pack to hold the top on more securely. That park works pretty well. In really serious rain, it doesn't help that much. I'm not sure where water gets in - maybe along the edges of the pack near my body. A poncho or Packa might work better for that, but both of those have problems. Ponchos are hard to don by yourself, if you want the danged thing to go over your backpack. And Packas are easy to put on (because you put it on the pack first) but what if you need to take your pack off? The Packa guy says they're made for walking, not stopping. But sooner or later, you gotta go. And if he's never been in an all day rainstorm, good for him.. but I have.   It was bad enough taking off my backpack and having my back get cold. If I had to take off my whole raincoat when I was already cold and wet, I'd have been really unhappy.A note on pack cover fit, assuming you use one. (I still do mainly because it keeps the contents of the pack's outer pockets quite a bit dryer.) You want it reasonably snug but not tight. Loose means it will flap wildly in the wind, snag on things, and possibly blow off. Too tight means the edges of your pack won't get full coverage, and the water pooling at the bottom will soak your pack. I sometimes stick my rubber clogs in the bottom of the pack cover to create a space between the bottom of my pack and the bottom of my pack cover. That fixes the pooling problem. But it means you get kicked in the butt by clogs all day. Also it's hard to set the pack down when there are wobbly clogs under it. Maybe you'll find a better solution.Marmot Precip raincoat: I tried a bunch of different solutions this year and ended up back with Marmot. I didn't want to because I've had so many of these fail on me. But I wear them a long time, I guess. I give them a lot of use and they basically wear out. A brand new one is very nice. You'll still get wet from sweat in them. My arms suffer more than my torso. I think this is because you need body heat to push moisture through the fabric. My torso supplies it but my arms don't. So I have wet arms. It helps to wear a long sleeved wicking shirt under the coat. In serious rain, water will come in through the pit zips, and the front pockets too.I saw a guy on the trail with a $300 English raincoat of some kind, and he stayed dry in weather so bad that I had to stop at a shelter and get into my sleeping bag to recover from hypothermia. I was impressed with his coat to put it mildly. I don't recall the brand, but I couldn't buy it here anyway. My point is just that the expensive coats may be worth it.ULA rain skirt: Love it. Use it constantly. It's easy to put on while you're wearing your pack. It packs into an attached pocket, about coke can sized. It dries fast. It provides excellent ventilation. It can be used as a mini tarp/ groundsheet. Keeps your butt dry when you sit on logs, wet picnic tables, etc. Can be worn while you do your laundry. One of my best loved pieces of gear.