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Mags
01-03-2014, 20:18
After 10ks post on hiking in the cold and wet, I started writing up an article on Cold and Wet hiking. With the Smokies incident, seem appropriate to finish it today. :)

In any case, I have it posted on my web site
http://www.pmags.com/cold-and-wet-the-hardest-hiking

(A pain to copy and paste longer articles correctly. Sorry!)

The Cleaner
01-03-2014, 20:42
Great info, I have some of the same stuff. Thanks for sharing...

hikerboy57
01-03-2014, 21:17
nice article,mags.

JAK
01-03-2014, 22:24
Thanks Mags. Reading it now. It's like -10F up here past week and on Monday it is supposed to got to +45F and rain, then back down to sub-zero. Not planning on going for a hike beyond my paper-route, but something to think about.

ZeRoCoOl
01-03-2014, 23:34
I enjoyed the article. Good Info. Thanks

revid
01-08-2014, 04:04
Thanks a lot for the article. It is really helpful for those of us getting our last pieces of gear for an upcoming thru hike.

I will be starting on Springer in early March. I was planning on not taking rain pants, just athletic tights with shorts and maybe a rain kilt/skirt. Do you have any thoughts on this? I figure that If my legs get wet I will be changing into dry baselayer pants at night anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.

Mags
01-08-2014, 09:38
Take some sort of rain/wind protection. The rain kilt with the tights would probably work well in the wooded environment of the Appalachians.

garlic08
01-08-2014, 09:50
...I will be starting on Springer in early March. I was planning on not taking rain pants, just athletic tights with shorts and maybe a rain kilt/skirt. Do you have any thoughts on this? I figure that If my legs get wet I will be changing into dry baselayer pants at night anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.

My choice was rain pants and no extra base layer, but your system could work fine for you. Some hikers do OK with just shorts. It's unlikely your choice of leg wear will affect survival--just comfort. Like putting those wet clothes on the next morning--uncomfortable for a few minutes, but you'll survive and you learn it's worth it to keep some stuff dry. If you do much NW hiking, you'll have an idea. And it's easy enough to bail out to town in bad weather, and even change your gear along the way.

Just a note--do NOT underestimate spring weather in the high country in the Southern Appalachians. I experienced some of the most severe weather in my life on my AT hike in April, and I normally spend a lot of time above treeline in the Rockies. Snow/rain in somewhat extreme wind, temps in the low teens--but plenty of pleasant sunny days as well. I appreciated my rain pants in the winter storms, but I saw at least one hiker out there in shorts and he survived.