The thread "talk me into hanging" reminded me of something I used to consider doing but never got around to. Mainly because I couldn't see a way around certain problems.

Some folks ( Food? ) use their ponchos as tarps, others their ground cloths as rain gear. The weight savings of this approach is obvious. But how safe and practical is it, at least in areas of heavy rain and/or cold temps?

I am trying to picture a situation where you are well into a multi-day/week hike, and it has settled into a good all day and all night rain, maybe blowing rain with some cool temps. You set up camp after hiking all day in this blowing rain ( or snow).

You are laying under your tarp or floorless tent, and your GC is your rain gear, with your light down bag laid out on the GC, and you are snuggled in as the storm rages. Now you realize that you are about to suffer Montezuma's revenge. Or you just have to pee real bad. Or some emergency arises with one of your camp mates.

What do you do with your bag when you take the GC up from the soaking ground to put on as rain gear? When you get back from the call of nature, with your GC/rain gear soaked, how do you work out retrieving your bag and putting it on the wet GC, with out getting your bag soaked.

Or, in the case of the poncho---- if your poncho is now your tarp, whether over your hammock or over your GC, you are obviously not going to take it down unless all of your gear is packed up and protected from the rain. So, what do you do in the middle of the night in the storm, if you have to go or there is some emergency? Do you just strip down and go out in the cold rain completely unprotected? Then how do you handle getting back in your down bag once you are soaked?

I never looked into this approach, because it all sounded like a bit of a PITA, or worse:dangerous.

But there must be a way, since folks do it. How do folks handle these situations?