Drying out Clothes and Pack

[wilconow]

Situation:

80 degree summer day. A few miles before making camp, you get poured on by a storm. It only lasts about a half hour, but trail runners, socks, clothes, outside of pack are all soaked.

By the time you set up camp, the rain has stopped. It's getting dark and you go straight to bed. Where do you put everything to dry?

[hammock engineer]

On the support lines of my hammock for me. I can also run a line under my hammock and hang them from that. This will keep it out of the rain.

In a tent I would hang them on the guy lines or hang a seperate clothes line.

[wilconow]

In a tent I would hang them on the guy lines or hang a seperate clothes line.

even though it may storm again in another hour? i guess it's no big deal to get out of the tent (the rain wakes you up anyhow) and take the line down, but for me i like to go to sleep without having to worry about things getting soaked again. id probably wake up every 10 minutes thinking that i hear rain

[Alligator]

I used to keep a small piece of clothesline but I left it by accident. Then I used my bear bag line, but I left that too:( . Now I use my tarp support/guy lines. I'll also use a branch or some dry bushes or inside the shelter if it's just me.

I find that overnight drying is often reduced by morning dew, so I try to get things dried in the early morning, I'm a late starter anyway. Otherwise, laying things out in the sun during a break is a helpful too, especially over lunch.

[Johnny Swank]

There's not a whole lot you can do about it besides trying to reduce what actually gets wet in the first place. That, and take a zen-like appreciation for the rain. Dealing with really minor issues like this beats the crap out of being in the office.

[Kerosene]

Unless it's a really dry and warm night, things are going to still be wet in the morning and you'll end up putting on wet stuff to dry on your body the next morning. It's only a problem when you first put your stuff on first thing in the morning!

[wilconow]

Unless it's a really dry and warm night, things are going to still be wet in the morning and you'll end up putting on wet stuff to dry on your body the next morning. It's only a problem when you first put your stuff on first thing in the morning!


yeah thats pretty much what happened on my section hike. it was fine. i left my stuff in my tent vestuble overnight and it didn't dry out right. but since it was dry in the morning, it was fine just to wear the wet stuff for a bit and hang stuff on the back of my pack to air dry as i was moving.

I guess what prompted me thinking there was a better way to dry out stuff was something I read in Uncle Tom's Trail Journal. I don't think I quite understand it though:

I took advantage of the WS center's offer to look through the contents of your pack and advise on how you can lower your pack's weight. I made out pretty well, shedding extra shirts, glasses, batteries, razor, pages of a book I read half of, etc. He was astute enough to ask where my winter jacket was, and when I told him I forgot it at home, he told me to "Get that Patagonia Micropuff pullover asap. You will need it to dry out wet shirts. You put it on when you reach camp , especially if you have a soaked shirt. The jacket will warm you up and the moisture from the wet shirt will evaporate through the jacket. You should also wring out your socks and put them right into your bag, thy will be dry by morning and so will your bag."

[Alligator]

You use your body heat to steam off the water. I usually only aim for one piece of clothing while sleeping (+socks if you want, they are small in area). It depends on how cold it is at night.

I once had a progressively wet week hike though and nearly everthing was wet so one night as soon as I made camp, I started steaming clothes dry by sitting in my bag all evening:) .

[Ender]

On the AT there's not much of a point in doing much other than hanging it in your tent, which will mainly just keep it from getting moldy. Too humid most of the time to dry. At least during the middle of summer.

[hammock engineer]

even though it may storm again in another hour? i guess it's no big deal to get out of the tent (the rain wakes you up anyhow) and take the line down, but for me i like to go to sleep without having to worry about things getting soaked again. id probably wake up every 10 minutes thinking that i hear rain

If they are already soaked, what do you have to loose.

I think this is another area where tarps (either for ground use or hammocks) win out over tents.

[wilconow]

You use your body heat to steam off the water. I usually only aim for one piece of clothing while sleeping (+socks if you want, they are small in area). It depends on how cold it is at night.



so let me get this straight.. put wet clothes in your sleeping bag while you sleep and they should be dry by morning?? is that what the guy from Wal-Y is saying?

[Alligator]

so let me get this straight.. put wet clothes in your sleeping bag while you sleep and they should be dry by morning?? is that what the guy from Wal-Y is saying?Basically. As I mentioned though, go light with what you want to dry. Too many clothes and the water will suck up all your sleeping heat. If it's incomplete, sometimes moisture gets in the bag too. Same thing with a jacket. If it's cold, you might not be able to dry out a shirt. It could actually be dangerous, don't worry about drying out a shirt if you are near hypothermic, just get warm, fed, and coherent first:) .

It helps if you fuel your body up before bed too. Those are the calories that will be drying your clothes.