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!!!!