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Jim

I think i am leaning toward buying a nice rain jacket that is a few sizes larger than what I normally wear. Now if I can just decide which brand and model to buy...

I carry an Integral Designs siltarp/poncho in my shoulder bag as EDC. It might look a bit wierd walking around down town with an oversized poncho on but it covers any pack I might have and I'll take strange looks over being wet any day.

Doubles as a shelter...very multi-purpose. If I'm in the wilderness I carry ultralight tent pegs along with it instead of a tent.

I've done the mini-umbrella in the past but the poncho is about the same size stuffed into it's sack and way more effective

Personally, I just give my pack a few good coatings of Scotchgard. After I do that I don't have any problems with rain. It sheds water like the feathers on the duck. You just have to make sure the pack has those little flaps of fabric that cover the zipper.

One other option I forgot to mention is something I do with my hiking pack:

I can't afford a waterproof pack and it's always been a royal pain for me to pull out the integral rain cover because you can't do it without taking your pack off (unless you have some friends with you).

I load everything inside the pack which is succeptable to water inside silnylon roll top waterproof bags and put THOSE in the pack. They're light, relatively inexpensive, and keep everything but the pack itself dry.

Mountain Equipment Coop has just started selling some large enough to (and designed to) fill the entire inside of a pack for this purpose. I like several smaller color coded ones personally it makes organization easier.

Welcome Eire,

Its a good question. In fact we all change ours too... Start with a small kit of useful things and try to avoid carrying a whole backpack - just in case.

Teacher

Paul810,

I like your Titanium cup that fits on the bottom of your mini Nalgene. I have one that fits on the bottom of my large Nalgene. I think mine is a 700ml or something like that...

What volume\capacity is yours?

Mine is a 400ml MSR Titan. It's the only titanium cup I could find that kind of fits the wide mouth 16oz nalgenes. It's still a bit too large, but much better than most cups I've seen. It won't fit the full size Nalgene bottles though, nor will it fit the 16oz narrow mouth bottles. It does fit perfectly in the sides of the pack though.

I don't do urban any more, but in a work setting I don't worry about my leather briefcase. It must be waterproof. Cows float, right?

For dayhiking, my pack (L.L. Bean Bigelow Day Pack, Top-Load)
has a great built-in, attached cover that zips away in a pocket underneath when not in use.

I have to agree with the multiple coats of scotchguard, I use a product thats called Survivors Water Proofer that works pretty well.