Cold Wet Hammocking Advice

[SkyDog]

Great Thread! I *HATE* cold & wet day after day. To "dry out" INSIDE, what works for me is throwing a chemical hand warmer in there with me. Overnight, it will dry out my sox, pants, bag, etc. The hand warmers can safely/environmentally be emptied so you lose a bit of weight with each useage. The outsides, DWR helps; but, not totally.

[SkyDog]

BTW, Tyvek is not noisy. Just wash (cold water only - no soap) it in cold water in the washing machine. Comes out soft as cotton and retains all other properties. When set up in wet/fog/rain, I drape it over my hammock when I am not in it. Seems to help keep thngs a bit dryer.

[SkyDog]

Just thinking out loud here... My success with hand warmers drying out things overnight has me wondering how long it would take to dry out things *inside* when my body is not in there...? Maybe get up, protect everything from the heat by wrapping the hand warmer in a fleece, and close it all up<may have to vent a bit> while doing the morning chores. Fluff it all up a few times while waiting. It would depend on just how wet everything is... Need to try this next time the fog rolls in.

[wisenber]

You might not run into the same situation where you were caught in such high humidity and cool conditions for an extended period of time again. We are at the mercy of the weather when we are backpacking and we have to figure out how we can best deal with or at least survive what comes our way. These short backpacking trips of a few days often put us in a position where we have miles to make and we have to make them those days.

But sometimes we just have to alter our plans. Either bail out on the trip at the last moment because of the projected conditions or cut the trip short or spend another day on the trail. A few years ago when I was in much better hiking shape it wasn't uncommon to finish trips a day or a half day early. That gave some slop to deal with many issues that might come up that slowed us down. But that is much easier when you can hike high mileage days. And winter conditions when you don't have much day light to use doesn't help that situation either, especially when winter conditions are more likely to cause issues that might slow you down.

I've had to cut a couple of trips short here lately due to water levels. Some streams that are usually rock hopping had become waist deep. ( For some reason the thought of 38 degree water that high with a 40lb pack does not appeal to me in the Winter.) Some of the three day loop routes are a bit tougher to turn around in as it's about the same to go back as it is to go forward.

[wisenber]

Just thinking out loud here... My success with hand warmers drying out things overnight has me wondering how long it would take to dry out things *inside* when my body is not in there...? Maybe get up, protect everything from the heat by wrapping the hand warmer in a fleece, and close it all up<may have to vent a bit> while doing the morning chores. Fluff it all up a few times while waiting. It would depend on just how wet everything is... Need to try this next time the fog rolls in.

I've not used the hand warmers, but I have used my goretex. Putting goretex over my wet layers "heats" the moisture out when the temps are not too low. I've even put socks under my jacket and had them drier in a couple of hours. I may have to try the handwarmers though.

[fin]

In retrospect, I may need to look at my map a bit better. Apparently somewhere just north of Bob's Bald there is a wormhole that comes out near Seattle or so the weather would indicate.

LOL! Good Stuff!

BTW, I get what some of you have been saying on the VB side, I just don't think that's the issue in the mid 30's. If it were colder, I could see that as being the source. Again, please remember that I am bringing with me the wealth of wisdom and knowledge that only someone possessing my solid three months of experience can bring. Once I get another 15 days or so under my belt, I'll be happy to invite all of you to my book signing at which point I will provide any answers that might have escaped you.

ROLF! Now that's funny! You've been on a lot of different forums, I see.

[T-BACK]

During my AT hike in Maine it rained 45 out of the 50 first days on the trail. By the time I reached the AT I had ditched all of my under/over quilts due to the extra weight and just used my sleeping bag around my hammock. I carried a small foam pad in case I had to go to ground but never needed it except in the shelters. My bag was down and the insulation was never compromised. Even on nights when I was too lazy to get up and adjust my tarp as a storm approached and rain actually blew in and directly onto my bag, the insulation stayed dry. The water beaded up on the outside of the bag and I simply wiped it off with my towel in the morning. This added little to my routine as I always wiped down my tarp before striking it each day. I have to say that I was quite surprised by the amount of water that the towel removed even after shaking the tarp beforehand. I can easily imagine that if I had compressed my bag before drying it, the insulation could have gotten wet. Fog and heavy dew were also constant issues but my insulation never failed. Another so called no no that I did a lot was to dry out clothing at night in my down bag. I never had any problems because of it. I think that ground sleepers are at a higher risk of wetting out their down because they are compressing it underneath them (if they are not using quilts). and because of the potential of water seeping through ground cloths. That said, I was on a canoe trip several years ago where it rained for three days straight. It kept raining (six days in all) and I had to bail out on day three. The reason was that I still hadn't figured out a way to keep rainwater from running down my straps reliably and everything I had was wet. This has since been solved but I'm sure, to some, it still poses a problem.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sold on down from experience. I know that I can rely on my setup through thick and thin. I'm sure others would say the same about synthetics. You have to find a system that you are confident using. For me, this involved testing my setup to failure in my backyard or at least close to my truck. This gave me the option of bailing out if I had asked a little too much of my equipment. For a long time I was the joke of the neighborhood. When a thunderstorm or colder than normal weather hit, I was running into the back yard with my pack while everyone else was running indoors. Although I was ridiculed, this saved me many mishaps when I was miles away from my truck on a cold and wet night. Keep experimenting, you'll figure out what works for you.

[BillyBob58]

Brian T-Back,
Good info! I think I may need to ad a new technique to packing up- drying things off with my pack towel!

[Just Jeff]

T-BACK - what kind of bag was that? I have a Sierra Designs Wicked Light bag with good DWR like that. I made a depression that included a seam and poured a puddle of water on it, then went to the store. I came back and the puddle was still there. I didn't measure the amount of water, but nothing appeared wet at all when I removed the water...not even the seams.

I think that's the only insulation I own with that kind of protection.

[warbonnetguy]

if you're already carrying that ba air core pad to sleep on along with your uq, you might consider replaceing the down uq with a torso length 1/8" evazote ccf. probably not too much bulkier and definately alot lighter than the full length uq. that combined with the ba insulated air core would probably get you to well below freezing and you wouldn't have to worry about your bottom insulation getting wet at all. this could be a decent option for you in really wet humid weather as the uq is much more suceptible to getting wet and you're already carrying the ba pad. the evazote pad would probably be close to 5-6 oz max. when the forcast looks drier, then take the uq.