My few rain-enhanced camping adventures boiled down to waiting it out hunkered in my tent or shelter. Cooking was a pain. coping with wet raingear was worse. Got boring fast, though I am much better equipped and inclined now to enjoy extended "survival naps."

So you wily rain-camping mavens, share some of your best strategies!

Thanks.

I like to think of it as rain management - rain happens, you get wet, its a matter of degree. If you live where it rains and is cold, you could be miserable and maybe even die, so its best to keep the wetness to a minimum. Some ideas I've used:

- hike with an umbrella. Don't knock it, if there's room on the trail you can stay bone dry.
- invest in really good raingear. I love my Teva eVent jacket, it goes almost everywhere I do. I also have an Eddie Bauer hard shell BC-200 which is a really impressive jacket that I use more for snow than rain climates, but I was exposed out in 45 minutes of soaking rain the other day and it kept me dry.
- layers. Good wool underwear will save body heat even when wet. Carry spares of all layers when hiking, and change into them when you stop for the night.
- rain tarp. This seems to me to be a must for PNW camp sites. Learn to pitch tarps over your cooking area, it gives you some room to move around, converse and do camp stuff without standing in the rain. 10x10 or even larger - ultralighters swear by silnylon for weight, I actually like the Kelty tarps, they are heavier, less expensive, and every bit as bomber.
- a good tent. Goes without saying. You don't want it to leak or you can have a miserable night. Don't forget, don't pitch it in low lying areas where the rain may puddle, you'll wake up in a stream.
- wear a hat with a brim. I wear glasses and I really don't like wet or foggy lenses. Some folks swear by Seattle Sombreros, I think they are akin to the Urban Sombrero but whatever keeps you dry. I like a basic boonie hat given the water treatment.

Have some wine with you.

Worthwhile accessories are a good book or an interesting companion.

Especially the latter!

Food that doesn't need cooking can be very helpful if you don't want to cook in the rain.

A tent with a vestibule for your wet gear is very nice to have.

Staking out your rain fly appropriately can have a big impact on how wet the inside of your tent becomes.

Dry clothes, especially socks.

Other than a good rain gear and a tent with fly and and vestibule, The 3 T's have have all of our rainy camping trip bareable, even enjoyable: Trenching, Tarps and Tea. Trenching isn't great for the earth so try to choose your sites with a downpour in mind. Keep you fire, cooking and eatings areas dry by roping tarps. Keep water boiling for hot drinks like tea, coffee and hot chocolate. These will go a long way to keeping morale up.

Not a fan of the Seattle Sombrero. Brim is too wide, hence floppy, hence moves with any wind ... thereby negating the "rain off the face and neck" that it was supposed to do.

Will stay with my boonie hat, even though it's not truly waterproof.

Fact is, if it's raining, you get wet. Goretex eventually stops venting faster than you sweat, so you baste in your own juices. Getting in/out of a tent brings in water. Your pack gets wet (unless you have a cover, and even then, it runs between your back and the straps).

I try to avoid rain when camping. Fine in regular life, sucks on the trail. I'd rather take snow.

Don't forget that with can come thunder and lightning:

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=231555&page=1

Don't forget that with can come thunder and lightning:

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=231555&page=1

I have an earlier version of the Seattle Sombrero, made of heavier fabric. It has worked better for me in rain, and I love the ventilation it provides. If the wind is up and moving rain sideways, nothing is going to keep you dry.

I always like to have a set of clothing reserved for wearing in my dry area- the tent interior or the cabin. I also keep a set reserved for walking in the rain; that set gets wet and stays wet, but if you are moving it is no problem.

Avoid cotton in damp conditions; it is worse than useless.

Hiking in the rain can be extremely interesting. Familiar landscapes look entirely different.

I haven't camped when it's rained for days and hope to never have that experience.

When backpacking in Colorado mainly I just sleep thru it in my tent if it's afternoon showers or even 6 hrs of showers.

Picking up and moving in the rain would be the pits.

I have been known to put my poncho over some low tree limbs and make a rainfly for cooking if needed.

If you haven't already next time you're at your local library get a copy of "Eiger Dreams" from the shelf and read the story called "On being tentbound".

Not technical advice but I think you'll enjoy it.

As for technical advice, I think Lono handled it pretty nicely. When car camping I've gone so far as to use a bivy sack inside a tent.

I'll second what Lono said. Some great tips there.

I grew up in Florida and the bulk of my camping experience is there. Needless to say, if you want to camp in Florida, you're going to get wet and believe it or not, Florida winters can be very wet and very cold - it can be tougher than snow camping when the ground is 40F but the air is 10F and everything is soaking wet - At least up north, the ground is frozen too.

Since the bulk of my camping is in the rain, I have lots of tips!!!

• A golf umbrella is a great addition to your gear. Get a big umbrella and it can double as a walking stick. Most generic cheap golf umbrellas let through a lot of light. The best umbrellas I've found have a silvery lining that also blocks 100% of the sun but I don't know of any brands in particular and they seem to be hard to find.
• I prefer a rain suit with Gortex instead of a poncho. For all day wear, a breathable rainsuit makes all the difference. In a humid environment, a poncho is useless after 8 hours of constant rain. In the heat of the summer, I just strip down to a bathing suit and no shirt or a tshirt and get wet and enjoy the rain.
• I like to wear wool clothing in cold wet weather because it keeps you warm when wet.
• I wear a leather cowboy style hat that I oil occasionally. This makes it waterproof. A wide brim hat that repels water is a good addition to your kit and I think it has a positive psychological factor as well as being practical.
• Buy a high quality tent that has sealed seams and is impregnated with silicone or polyurethane and keeps rain out. Nothing worse than waking up in a soggy tent.
• Learn how to control condensation in your tent by venting air overnight. As others have said, a vestibule is a great feature to have. Use a folding stool and you can sit in your vestibule to take off your boots in a dry area before climbing into the tent. A stool makes it so you don't have to deal with shoes and socks while standing or sitting on the ground. I also carry a piece of indoor outdoor carpet for my vestibule when car camping but you can improvise some sticks and pine needles to keep your vestibule mud free if you are backpacking.
• A lightweight silnylon tarp can be setup between two trees in about 5 minutes or less and you can cook under it and take a break from the rain while on a hike and you won't have to hold your umbrella while you boil water. I carry a 10x12, but a 10x10 would be ok too. Learn some good knots and the setup is super fast. If you are car camping, then use as many tarps as you can - tarps over your tent, tarps over your kitchen, lots of tarps!
• When you arrive at a area you want to camp, walk around and try to find high ground and areas protected from wind. Don't pitch your tent in low spots or under tree limbs that look like they may break in a storm.
• I also like to trench my tent if necessary. You only need to make a small 1"x1" trench in most cases and you don't have to trench all four sides of your tent - usually just trenching around the uphill side is enough. A thick layer of pine needles (minus the cones) is a good way to raise your tent floor just a bit above the mud. You can also use sticks and pine needles to cover paths between your tent and kitchen and keep the mud down to a minimum.
• Wear waterproof boots and carry extra dry socks and take care of your feet if cold camping. If tropical camping, wear sandals so you can air dry quickly. - sandals are a touchy topic for some hikers but I like having some - at least for lounging around a wet campsite while my boots dry.
• Carry a hatchet or large knife so you can split wood to get to the dry parts. This is essential if backpacking. If car camping, then carry some liquid fuel like charcoal lighter. You also need an extensive firemaking kit with lots of dry tinder.
• Use dry bags within your pack to keep contents separated and dry. Then if you pack gets soaked, you still have dry gear. If car camping, use tote boxes like ActionPackers that are rain resistant. You can also pack little items in ziplocks and trash bags.
• Carry high quality paper towels instead of toilet paper and tear off small pieces of paper towel as needed. Toilet paper disintegrates in the rain but paper towels hold up very well.
• Know your gear's water resistance. Don't carry those $800 binoculars if you aren't sure they are waterproof.
• Beware of flash floods. If you have any doubts about what a flash flood can do, then google "albert pike campground flood" for an eye opener. Remember that a flash flood can be caused by a rainstorm many miles away and you may not get rained on at all before the flood and remember they call them "flash" floods for a reason.
• Beware of creepy crawlies after a rainstorm. I was once on a trip where a friend was stung by a poisonous caterpillar that had crawled under some gear to stay dry in a storm and he later picked up the gear and got stung on the hand and had to be evac'd. Spiders are notorious for this too. Check your boots!
• Disassemble all your gear after your trip and dry every little part. This especially goes for things like lanterns and stoves that will otherwise rust quickly. Check and dry all the little hardware on your pack too.
• Know how to deal with lightning when in a forest. Read this site from the Forest Service http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/safety/safety.shtml#lightning
• I carry a barometer built in to my wristwatch. A barometer can alert you to an impending storm long before you see the black clouds or hear the thunder. The bigger the incoming storm, the better the barometer is at alerting you which makes it an essential piece of kit for me.
• Embrace the rain and enjoy it!

What Nugget said. Wow! Great advice.

This is such an appropriate thread. We are in the midst of a good downpour right now. Just had to go out in it to accomplish some "honey dos"

three thoughts:

Dry socks
dining fly
pack towel or shamwow ( x2)

Set up camp before the rain.

Clear plastic drop cloths are cheap and very useful.

Tarps.

A campfire is a great motivator and helps you dry out.

GREAT advice. Taking down in the rain is twice as much work because you have to unpack and dry out later. Setting up in the just sucks the life out of me.

Tarps can make a big difference. The bigger, the better, within reason. It's like having a large porch.

Has anyone ever worn a souwester hat? I've seen them in photos for years, but have never seen one up close or tried them on.

Sue

All great advice.

I'll emphasise the umbrella - its great, esp when there is a call of nature, some companies even make hiking umbrellas !

Tarps are great, but a good vestibule makes everything much easier.
My good tent has one at each end, so one can be used for gear storage, and the other for access and for cooking.
This adds to the overall weight, but no more so than adding an extra tarp. Being integrated it also stands up well in strong wind or snow, better than a tarp (IMO, but I'm sure others may disagree) !

Other things to bring are: something to read, a game to play, or notebook to write in.

A simple pack of cards or (6) dice to play Zilch are family favourite of mine.

I thought of one more - a sit pad, to keep your butt dry while sitting around staying dry under your tarp. I cut off 2x2 foot sections from old foam pads, I used to sleep on a z-rest that did the same thing. The foam pad or the z-rest also double as material to build splints.

I love my Hennessy Hammock Haven't used a tent in years (except when I'm with my daughter and we don't both fit in the hammock).

I got the large rain fly and love it....It can rain and blow all it wants and I'm high and dry, just swinging in the breeze.

Per BPJ's comment regarding lightening ...

Slightly off topic, but I recently purchased a lightening detector - mostly because I hope to be spending more time boating next year. Its the one that looks like an old fashioned pager. It works remarkably well. Pretty slick actually. It can tell me how far away the lightening strikes are, AND whether they are approaching or leaving the area.

http://www.strikealert.com/

Back on topic ...

I tend to think that a good rain fly is huuugely important. If you've never seen them, I'll recommend the Cooke Customer Sewing Tundra Tarp:

http://www.shop.cookecustomsewing.com/category.sc?categoryId=12

Another thing to think about is how your tent door will function in rain. Some - like some dome tents - are terrible in rain.

+1 on the sit/bum pad. I have found these Zotefoams bum pads indispensable for hiking and camping. They fold easily (roughly 7"x19" folded) and can used for any number of purposes other then a bum pad. At night in the cooler months, they make for a nice back warmer when sitting around the campfire. We simply tuck the pad in under our jackets and they make a big difference in keeping the back warm.

I've been through several rainy trips on the chattooga river in the last few years (not surprising since the area gets 80"+ a year). I'd have to emphasize bringing a tarp or 2. Really nice to be able to be out of the tent in the rain, even if you're stuck under a tarp.

The other thing is to make sure the water repellant on your raingear is performing well (not the laminate, the coating on the fabric that makes water bead off). Doesn't matter how well your shell breathes, if the fabric wets out you'll get soaked from sweat. There's plenty of them out there, but the ReviveX spray that I've used seems to work very well.

A sponge can be dried out and reused unlike paper towels and a spare tent pole is worth it. Just try repairing one when it's a blowing dark and raining!
qjs

Rain!!..did someone say rain??..the canoe country in Northern Minnesota is part of the headwaters for Hudson's Bay.the warm winds from the West and the cold air off Lake Superior make for the rainy weather that i expect and prepare for on my two week solos.



one of the better things about canoe tripping is that you can take a heap of gear along if you want too.here at the canoe landing on the Little Indian Sioux River i have all i'll need for the next couple weeks packed away in two 45 pound packs.i make three trips over the portage,one with each pack and another with the canoe so i'm not overloaded.



OK!..now the "rain tips" part..first off thats how i camp,a small tent that is just used as a "bedroom" so it and everything in it is always dry and the Baker Tent shelter you see in the back ground that serves as a kitchen and "day room". it's just not the rain up north but the bugs and you really need a shelter that keeps both out.many of my fellow canoe trippers use the old "tarp over a fire" method on rainy days but they end up sitting around a smokey fire in rain suits drinking coffee.if their good at it they may have the sides of the tarp pulled down in some sort of way to keep the wind and rain away.



with my Baker i have a room in the woods.this one is made from Silnylon as a DIY project one winter.my Wife did the sewing after i did the lay out and cutting.at around four pounds with the lines and some stakes i don't even know it's in the pack.two weeks worth of biscuit,pancake mix and Tang is just about as much.



if and when the wind changes the door flap can be adjusted so the wind and rain go over the top and not into a flat "barn door" and blow so hard that it pulls the stakes and leaves the shelter flapping from the lines.



now the survival part.inside warm and dry i can sit out just about anything,i have had to retreat to the tent a few times when the storm was really bad.i dropped the shelter over the packs inside and held it down with stones and hung on inside that bomb proof Atko while some really world class storms passed over.not having to make a tent or some sort of tossed together shelter out of trash bags means the chance of hypothermia is just about zero.it also means i can travel in the rain knowing that when i make camp i have dry clothing and sleeping gear in water proof bags and a shelter that i can kick back in and have hot cups of tea and warm up,just running a stove in that shelter will make it warm and cozy.



now i will say that every time i pull into a camp i don't have the time or space to get the shelter up so survival idea number two comes into play.."be prepared"..where have we heard that before?..in the Army it was "[censored] poor planing"--so on-- anyway for those moments i make sure the cook kit with the stove inside along with tea,sugar and the making for hot cocoa are right on top.in the last photo i have done nothing more than hit camp and dive into the tent,after stripping off my wet rain suit and boots and whipped up a cup of hot tea with lots of sugar and snugged into my sleeping bag while that rain you see in the first photo pounded down.

Impossibly luxurious! Two tents? I guess you need that to deal with North Country downpours.

In the arid southwest when backpacking on the Colorado Plateau in particular, one can't easily carry two tents, but one can take advantage of rock shelters which will keep you bone dry in the heaviest storms.

We know this because people long ago figured out the advantages of living in these rock shelters and have left fascinating perishable remains to fascinate archaeologists (Mesa Verde National Park is the most well known example). Fortunately I have been able to excavate in some of these locations and I have personally experienced their advantages during heavy rains.

Hike..yup--the canoe path is one of luxury,bannock over a open fire,pancakes and eggs for breakfast,sitting--that's as in sitting down, in a canoe while the breeze waifs you along.

and just to get your goat how about this!!!



TWO STOVES!!!!

I alertly spot a trend here....Doubtless you also have two cherry pies, two bottles of champagne, and probably two diamond-encrusted canoe paddles....

I get it....the 1% go canoe camping, while the 99% backpack, gnawing on dry granola bars and drinking from mud puddles!

So canoes are the RV's of camping, eh? I love it. Thanks for the photos Canoedogs, that looks amazing. BTW, I think you should buy stock in the Zip-loc company.

I remember when you made that baker tent a few years (?) back. I love it!

My father had a canvas Boy Scout baker tent when I was a boy. That was one of my favorite tents. Very open when you wanted it to be open, and very closed when necessary ... and it came with its own fly.

The closest commercially available counterpart - that I know of - is Cooke Custom Sewing's Lean tents - which is pretty much a Baker tent with almost no lifted tail end - if you know what I mean.

http://www.shop.cookecustomsewing.com/product.sc?productId=194

I don't own one myself, but definitely wish I did - I'd get the Lean Plus - with the mosquito netting.

Ken..our Troop back in the late 50's,early 60's used those Scout canvas Bakers and i troll Ebay every so often in the hopes of finding one.heavy but we used them summer and winter.Cooke Sewing is well respected here and the Leans are popular with the light weight solo gang.i found that too be really useful the back wall is a must,other wise you loose a lot of space back there.i had the Eureka Baker before they stopped making them and with not much of a back wall about all you could do was stuff the packs and other soft gear back there.the shelter i use now was sized for at least three people as the Eureka left one member of our normal three person canoe tripping group outside,ok not really but three guys could just pack in,two was just right.i would like to sew up a one person Baker for my solo trips.long and narrow would work better,even with that big one to get my feet away from the door i have to prop up the roof with a paddle to get head room.
the point of a canoe gear post on a survival site was that you need real gear if you want to stay dry.trash bags and a 8x10 sheet of plastic will just keep you head above water,so to speak.unless you want to get into a tent and try and sleep away the hours and hours that a storm will take to pass you need someplace to cook and move around and do camp chores.before i used a shelter with a tent i tried to use a Timberline to fill both needs and ended up with a dirty damp tent that smelled like cooking,bear bait no less.
to get an idea of what it's like too spend a days in the drenching rain have a look at my Youtube--"dismal day"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi22948jzKg

if a guy with a years of canoe tripping under his belt and all the gear in the world,warm and well fed can get bummed out by a few days of rotten weather you could see why people break cover and try and walk out when they are lost rather than hold up until help arrives-------hummmm..another 1AM post that really drifted off center---sorry folks....

I have. Short story: They work, and are very comfortable for their intended use: Working outside in rain and wind.

For hiking I'd say you're better off with a goretex anorack with a good hood. When you're hiking you need better circulation than the souwester hat can provide.

I took this opportunity to watch your videos. I admire your persistance and survival skills. With the Minnesota weather being so rainy in the fall in recent years, it takes guts to go into the BWCAW in a canoe and suffer the weather. I will admit though, that some of my best stories from my earlier days involve surviving storms and hail and rain and Northern Lights in the BWCAW.

I think I am getting lazy though. These days, my canoe spends most of it's time in the shed. I go 'truck camping' into the national forests instead. This year, I spent two separate rainy solo weeks in a tent. I cope with it in two ways: bringing a large tent with tarps, table, chair, and cot, and by moving around the forest on foot or in my truck.

Sometimes I get impatient with the weather and get a detailed report. If it is a slow moving system and I still have several days of vacation left, I will break camp and drive into and out the back of the storm and make a new camp in another part of the forest. A different kind of camping, I know, but it suits my impatient nature, and gets me into the woods in 3 out of 4 seasons.

I'm seriously considering adding a homemade long Baker to my kit on your recommendation. I can see a lot of advantages in poor weather. Kids are grown, and I hope to retire soon....probably three years before my slightly more youthful wife can. Lord willing and my health holds out, I will spend even more time in the woods and on the water, and maybe even sit tight in a Baker.

Canoedogs, that looks like a fairly normal day for sea kayaking in Prince William Sound.

For a tent, I use a old N Face VE-24. I've used it for > 20 years, and it is still going strong. It's a "3 person tent", so it's about right for just my wife and I. I generally take two lightweight tarps and miles of cord. I rig one tarp over the entrance to the tent, which makes a nice roomy porch for taking off wet raingear before I get in the tent. Since cooking inside the tent is not a good idea in bear country (pretty much all of Alaska), I use the 2nd tarp to rig a cooking/eating shelter some distance from my tent. If you rig them cleverly, they'll stay up in an ordinary breeze, and are easy to collapse and secure if it really starts to blow.

One more thing. No matter how careful you are, when camping in an extended period of rainy weather your stuff will slowly get damper and damper. In our climate, it can sometimes rain for many days. However, as the series of fronts move through, between fronts we sometimes get "Sun Breaks" which last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. Folks in the Pacific NW will know what I'm talking about. When we do get a sun break, no matter how brief, I always try to get stuff out to dry, and open up the tent to let some air through.

Tip #1. Check the weather before you go camping...

That approach might work some places. However, in Alaska where I live the weather forcasts are notoriously unreliable. Not because we have bad weathermen, but just because it is a very tough place to predict the weather. We are close to where the storms are born out in the Aleutian Low. Also, unlike the lower 48 where the coastlines and major mountain ranges mostly run more or less N-S, here in Alaska we have mountains and coastlines running every which way. This means weather forcasts are iffy at best. Also, in coastal Alaska it tends to rain a lot, even in good years.

All of this means that if one is unwilling to hike/paddle/camp in the rain, then one doesn't get out much.

Having had to function outside regardless of weather - because the First Sergeant said so - I learned these tips.

1. Garbage bags, plural, work. Run one north south, the other east west w/ whatever it is you want to keep dry in the first. Lightweight and the double bagging worked well.

2. Coffe/tea/hot chocolate/soup are invalubale.

3. Dry socks come in a very close second. And rubbing feet with vasoline helps keep them from pruning up.

4. Have two sets of clothing if you must be outside. One for outside (wet), one for inside (dryish).

5. Waterproof packs aren't. Water resistant means it sheds water until it becomes saturated in about 10 minutes. If the items inside a pack are not in waterproof bags, they will be wet.

6. Ponchos are best slept under or in. They semi sorta suck at keeping you dry when moving. Have a rain suit.

7. To #6, if you have a rain suit, make sure it can breath or be ventilated. Sweat smells, rain doesn't.

8. Finally - carry a small square of closed cell foam, about 12 inches by 12 inches. This is your new seat. It won't suck up water, it insulates, and it doesn't weight much. Beats sitting in the mud.

Worst rain I ever saw, monsoon in Korea. Over 14 inches in 7 hours. We wuz wet.

Canoedogs, do you still have the pattern for that baker tent? It would be a great project for our Scout group A couple of years ago we made our own collapsable picnic tables and homemade tents (or one big one) would be a really cool addition!

Yes, the plans for your shelter would be great Canoedogs. Very inspiring project. Matter of fact, I was looking around for bulk Silnylon last night.

That is what I love about canoeing, the ability to carry a lot of gear that would be almost impossible otherwise if one was just on foot. Even a 12' single person canoe can easily be outfitted with extra gear and food that makes wilderness camping and exploring a lot more comfortable and of a longer duration without being too concerned about the weight.

Not concern only if you don't have to portage. Then the multiple trips probably make the extra gear less attractive. Just sayin'..

Haven't had to portage in some years now (but point taken though). The lakes around here are in mostly mountainous regions where portaging is not required.

Will have to be some advances in that science for your tip to be helpful to me. I have to schedule my vacations six months in advance.

My REI Half Dome can be set up with just the fly, poles, and the footprint.

So, in the rain, I set up the footprint and fly, then pitch the tent under the protection of the fly.

Looking back, pretty obvious, but I never did it that way the first few times I pitched in the rain.

A local company makes a version of the Baker tent out of either cotton or nylon in various sizes. Neither is cheap but this design is extremely versatile. For group camping they might be the bomb, I don't know I haven't tried them. The company who makes them specializes in canoe guiding. You can configure the vestibule in multiple ways depending on the direction of the wind and rain. They have floors and mosquito netting as well. They could be reasonably be copied by a DIY maker with access to tent material, a sewing machine, velcro, no-see-um mesh and make your own poles.
http://www.canoemapscanada.com/index.php...8&Itemid=57

I simply use an 8x10 silnylon tarp to create a covered space away from the tent. That was as much money as I want to spend.

Use your rain jacket with hood AND with a wide brim hat underneath (I use a Tilley). The brim keeps the hood from clinging to your head, promoting ventilation and extends the protection in front of your face. It provides secondary moisture protection and the hood can be tossed back after the heavier rain stop. Cinch the hood tighter if you have to walk around in gusty winds.

Better than using a baseball cap with your hood because of the additional side ventilation and less feeling of claustrophobia with the hood.

The most innovative solution I've seen to camping in the rain is to setup a 12x12 Coleman screen house and then setup a tent inside the screen house. The guy doing this had a 6x9 tent that fit inside nicely with enough room leftover to setup his kitchen table and two folding chairs under the protection of the screen house. Kept him dry, comfortable and bug-free at camp. I dubbed it the "Tent-Tent."

I have no concerns about my tent leaking. The fly goes down to within 4" of the ground on all sides, seams are well sealed, two decent-sized vestibules and great ventilation. Setup in the pouring rain is a challenge, so I setup my 12x12 tarp first, then setup my tent under shelter of the tarp before moving the tent to its final location and staking it down.

Sea-to-Summit dry bags are not very expensive. I have a half dozen in various sizes. Down sleeping bag always goes in one. Underwear, socks, extra base layer and pillow case in another. Sweater, micro-fleece hoodie and sweat pants, spare hat and gloves in a third. Extra shirt and pants goes in a fourth. They're different sizes and colors and are labeled for easy identification. Makes it handy if you have to go wading through a water obstacle and need to change quickly into dry, warm clothes.

I don't generally spend much time actually out in the rain. My camping trips these days are usually Jeep-oriented, so I'm either at camp or inside a vehicle for the duration. I use nylon rain pants and jacket, with a wool sweater underneath if needed, a Tilley T3 hat, and high-top Gortex/Leather waterproof military boots. I'm looking for a good set of waterproof, insulated work gloves that provide some dexterity. Looks like the Youngstown Winter Performance Glove is worth a try.

while at Walmart looking for a new dry bag (DS just upgraded to a bigger backpack so needed a new dry bag for his kit) I decide to try this - Coleman Dry Bag)

Things I like so far:
-It was the same price as the other ones in the same size
-it's clear, which should make it easier to find stuff inside.
-it's thicker material, easier to stuff and unstuff, and clearly rip-stop
-fits nicely inside my hiking pack
-the velcro is inside so that one side has to reach across the contents instead on meeting in the middle, which means the other side covers that one like an envelope

Things I don't like so far:
-it's thicker material (plasticy instead of nylony) so heavier
-it dosen't have as much velco to seal the closing (1 piece, a couple of inches long, in the middle of the opening)
-the velcro is inside so that one side has to reach across the contents instead on meeting in the middle, which makes it harder to close when full
-it's not able to roll closed making it more water tight

So far, not bad for $11. We'll see how it holds up.

bacpacjac..yes i do..i'll dig it out over the week end--

LED..give me a day or two and i'll find the link to the place i got mine.i bought seconds at a very good price and it looked like new to me..