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Timinator
11-13-2013, 06:20
I'm a little late to post this, my life has kept me away from hiking for awhile but now I'm starting to get back on track and I have a problem that I need to figure out.
During june I went on a trip to the white mountains in maine for a few weeks and the humidity was insane. On top of the humidity keeping me damp to my inner layers, river crossings got my clothes wet which in turn got everything else wet. So far in my experience hiking drying off hasn't been that much of an issue but during my trip to the whites my stuff stayed wet FOREVER. I tried sleeping with my clothes to dry them off with my body heat but it didn't seem to have much if any of an effect (not to mention it felt really gross).
The constantly being wet thing was unpleasant to say the least and I need some new ideas to deal with humid environments since I was so sure sleeping with my clothes would work. Other than drying stuff off in the sun is there any other tricks that can effectively dry things off?

Timinator
11-13-2013, 06:33
Sry meant new hampshire, not really sure why I said maine :P

RF_ace
11-13-2013, 07:38
what materials are you clothes made of

The Cleaner
11-13-2013, 08:01
In high humidity high elevation drying clothes just isn't going to happen. Unless you stop for a several hour break in a sunny spot....

JAK
11-13-2013, 08:29
Various strategies work better or worse depending on climate, elevation, altitude, tree cover, availability of fuel.
1. Sometimes having just enough clothes in layers to wear it all in worst conditions can mean fewer clothes to manage and more opportunity to dry clothes with available body heat, sun, drying wind, fire.
2. Having the right material for the above, depending again on conditions. Quality wool is better in some conditions. Quality synthetic in others. I like some layers to be wool and some layers to be synthetic, and generally wool for the stuff I keep mostly on and synthetic for the layers that are mostly off.
3. If wool layers do get soaked, squeeze them as dry as you can, then wear them until they are drier. If using fire or sun to dry them this too is best done while they are being worn. If fleece or synthetics are frozen when you wake up in the morning, beat the ice crystals out of them against something solid.
4. If trees are available, but drying fires are not practical or ethical for general use, they are still available for real life and death emergencies if the unexpected happens like falling into water or through ice or whatever. Being prepared to make a drying fire is often lighter in weight and more reliable than carrying extra emergency clothes that might also get wet. This can meen a lighter, some fire starter, and a decent blade in some conditions; and some tinder, kindling, and small hatchet in conditions where a larger survival fire might be needed. In other words, a few ounces up to a pound rather than an extra pound of clothes that might still get wet and frozen.
5. i.e. Fire if necessary and possible, but not necessarily fire if less practical or less permissible.

Mostly body heat, and the right clothes.

hikerboy57
11-13-2013, 08:50
synthetic wicking fabrics are tough to dry except for wearing them dry. as good as they are at wicking sweat away from the skin, they also sop up every ounce of moisture in the air. like starting yor day in rain, it really only sucks for a few minutes till your body warms up, but when the weather is wet, damp, wet clothes is the norm.its more important to ensure you stay warm in windy wet conditions. staying dry is difficult.

JAK
11-13-2013, 09:16
I like synthetics that are the hydrophobic type, like quality fleece, cold weather stuff, synthetic rabid skunk fur, that sort of thing. (play on hydrophobic. sorry couldn't resist.) I'm not a great believer in wicking layers for staying cool, but then again I don't do a lot of hot weather hiking in direct sun. I tend to only add a skin layer when it is colder, and leave that layer in my pack on days when it is not so cold. Takes up less room in the pack and allows me to wear my knit wool sweater and let the breeze blow through it to help keep things dry, until I need to add wind/rain/skin layers over or under. Not a big fan or Armour All or whatever its called, as I generally don't hike in football or hockey gear.

garlic08
11-13-2013, 09:24
Perhaps you were bothered more by the body grime and oils and trail dirt than the wet. Maybe it'll help if you purposely wash your clothes in clean water. In arid conditions, when my clothes stand up by themselves when I take them off, it's definitely time to wash. In humid conditions, that never quite happens and you have to decide based on other input, or just make a habit of it.

Lightweight synthetics like my nylon trekking trousers and shirt seem to dry OK in a little sun and wind, or overnight in or under the sleeping bag, if they're at least nominally clean.

Rasty
11-13-2013, 09:30
The Columbia Aruba pants are great for humid conditions because the nylon fabric dries really fast.

Turk6177
11-13-2013, 10:54
I was in the 100 mile wilderness this summer and experienced the same thing. We made a camp fire to dry the shoes, which worked pretty well. I also hung my clothes on my bear line, but it didn't seem to do too much drying. Nothing else ever got dry, even hanging it out all night. I believe the sunshine is the best way to dry your clothes. After four days of wetness, we had a sunny day. Within an hour, after laying our clothes out in the sun, they were all dry. I believe a synthetic wicking style shirt (looks like it has tiny holes) does dry faster than a synthetic polyester shirt (such as the Underarmour heat gear for example). I am definitely switching back to the wicking style fabric. I always keep a separate set of sleeping clothes that I only use for sleeping. I keep them in a waterproof stuff sack. At least at night, I can be dry and let my skin dry out wearing those. I think that when it is humid, the air is just to full of moisture to make anything dry without some kind of dry heat, such as a fire. If you are uncomfortable due to chafing or something like that, because of the moisture, I would recommend putting body glide on your feet and any other chafing areas every morning. Even with wet clothes, this stuff keeps you from chafing in any way. Lastly, I read "Walking the Amazon" written by Ed Stafford. In that book, he describes a method that he and his companion used every night. It looks like they used some kind of rain fly or tarp set up high off the ground with clothes hanging from its apex. Under that was their camp fire. I am not sure if I would recommend this or not, because I do not know what kind of material their tarp or rainfly was made of. I would fear that a nylon rain fly would melt. You could probably find some kind of web site about Ed Stafford's expedition, get a contact email and ask him exactly how they did it. All the caption on the photo says is "Warm, clean, dry clothes every morning from above the fire." That sounds like what you are looking for. Happy Hiking.--Turk

Slo-go'en
11-13-2013, 11:45
I always get a kick out of people who hang wet clothes in a shelter expecting them to dry while there is still mist blowing in. It just isn't going to happen.

The OP doesn't say what kind of clothes he was wearing. If they had any cotton content at all, that is the problem. Even 50-50 T-shirts can take forever to dry. I've never had a problem with nylon/polyester hiking clothes staying wet. Body heat is enough to dry them if it's warm enough to leave damp clothes on.

I'm curious as to what rivers you had to cross which got you so wet? I didn't think we had any here in NH.

Timinator
11-13-2013, 11:54
My hiking clothes are made out of polyamide (whatever that is). If you didn't know there were river's in NH then you haven't been to white mountain national park lol, they were everywhere (actually I think I just kept bumping into the same one).

fiddlehead
11-13-2013, 15:14
On the damp and humid AT, the only way I know of to sleep on top of them.
They are as dry as they are going to get in the morning.

MkBibble
11-13-2013, 15:30
Just get used to it. Anything wet, stays wet. Anything dry gets wet....

moldy
11-13-2013, 20:01
Ain't gonna happen. If it's wet it will stay wet. Go to town put your stuff in the dryer.

Wise Old Owl
11-13-2013, 22:00
if all the clothing is micro fiber and synthetic... you can ford a stream clothes and all and be dry under the right conditions in half an hour. This has a lot to do with dew point.

Hey understand - you can stop & hang in the sun.

EDIT>> I suddenly remembered Mt Washington and realized New Hampshire is a Humid Continental Climate zone its what makes the mountains really cold during the winter and uncomfortable in summer... avg humidity is 80-90 during the summer.

Yes for that area - get used to it.

SCRUB HIKER
11-13-2013, 23:12
I feel your pain, OP. I had all synthetic everything on the AT and it was basically never dry unless it had just come out of the dryer in town (and it probably wasn't supposed to go in there in the first place). I hiked without a shirt on a lot of the time because my shirt would be saturated otherwise. Not sure there's a lot you can do, other than try hiking in the beautiful arid West in the summer :)

aficion
11-13-2013, 23:23
A fire will dry things. Patience and watchfulness are required to get the job done without damaging things. Under a high pitched tarp beside and upwind of a small fire works well in rainy conditions. Worthwhile to me to take the time and effort to dry my hiking clothes. My sleeping layers stay dry in my bag through the day. I love a fire anyway, especially if I am wet.

Slo-go'en
11-13-2013, 23:51
My hiking clothes are made out of polyamide (whatever that is). If you didn't know there were river's in NH then you haven't been to white mountain national park lol, they were everywhere (actually I think I just kept bumping into the same one).

Oh, you mean the trail. Yes, if it's raining, or has been raining recently, the trail does become a river. And if I remember right, June was on the rainy side. The only good solution in those conditions is to use knee length gaiters. They go a long way towards keeping the bottoms of your pants dryish and mud free. Gaiters are pretty much standard equipment until it starts to dry out.

-Animal
11-16-2013, 20:43
I was able to dry my wet stuff in all weather conditionsby using the heat of my cooking pot, with hot dinner inside, wrapped in a camp toweland stuffed carefully inside my synthetic sleeping bag along with all my wetclothes. Creates an amazing steam cloud while drying everything. Had to repositionthe clothes and reheat the pot a few times before everything was dry. Warmedand dried my sleeping bag several times this way too. It did not work on my shoes.

Malto
11-16-2013, 20:59
I haven't experienced this issue other than persistent rain days. I have had good luck wearing the bare minimum clothes possible. My base layer is the lightest weight material I can find and it will dry with just body heat in all conditions that I have experienced which have been quite diverse. So maybe try lighter weight clothing and see if that helps.

10-K
11-16-2013, 22:05
You know how to tell if it's going to rain?

All your clothes are dry...

:)

Rasty
11-16-2013, 22:08
You know how to tell if it's going to rain?

All your clothes are dry...

:)

How do you tell if it's windy?

Smooth & Wasabi
11-16-2013, 22:36
As was said get used to hiking in it. However I don't believe anyone mentioned camp clothes. One of my luxury items is the lightest of sleeping layers. They usually stay clean and dry enough (in conjunction with some personal hygiene) to keep me feeling good at night/camp.

lumberjaime
11-27-2013, 18:41
One thing that was crucial to getting me through the wet days was ALWAYS having a warm, soft, dry pair of socks to wear only around camp/shelter. Keep them dry at all costs, and even the wettest day will be better when you have dry feet the moment you get to camp.

I always carried dry newspaper (sealed in ziploc bag), and if my shoes got wet I would ball up a few sheets of it in each shoe overnight. Depending on humidity, the shoes will be more or less dry, but always better than when you took them off. Important note: always use old newspapers. The actual news is far too depressing to bring with you on the trail ;)

I sleep on a foam pad, and have found that placing clothes between the floor of the shelter and the foam pad did a great job of getting moisture out. Again, the extent of dryness depended lots on humidity, but it certainly helps. This system has the added bonus of keeping moisture away from your sleeping bag, which is especially important when sleeping in down. For best results, wring as much water out of the clothes before hand as possible.

Papa D
11-27-2013, 21:43
like others have said - material is key - that said, you can dry small items (like a pair of socks) by placing them in the foot-box of your sleeping bag while you sleep. Use your rain gear to keep from getting soaked - - most stuff gets damp though - dry what you can with air, sun, fire and the foot-box method. Mainly just protect your sleeping bag and keep it super dry - keep it in an absolute dry sack. When you get a nice sunny day, hang everything up and air everything out. If all else fails, hitch into a town and hit a laundry.

Croft
11-29-2013, 02:55
Another contributor to why clothes stay wet is the salt from your sweat holds onto moisture. Many nights I would hang my hiking clothes outside on rainy nights so they would get rinsed. Not real pleasant putting on wet clothes in the morning, but my body heat DID dry them within a half hour of starting to hike. Only method I found to dry my boots was to lay them in the sun angling them so the sun reached as far into the boot as possible.

Del Q
11-30-2013, 09:09
Agree on the type of material, I wear Icebreaker merino wool tee shirts 100% of the time, even when that gets wet, I will wear it on top of a fleece while sleeping or vice versa, tee shirt then another layer, in the morning it is dry or very close to dry.

I have also had success laying damp clothes over my sleeping pad (neo air) and sleeping bag on top of that, this has also worked for me.

My bdy seems to put off a lot of heat so in my sleeping bag its like a dryer.

Alpha3168
01-01-2014, 18:44
Here is something to do wet or just cold and you want warm clothes in the morning.

Put your clothes under the outside bottom of your sleeping bag. Between your bag and your ground pad, works every time. It aso beats trying to put your clothes inside the bag.

Papa D
01-01-2014, 22:45
Here is something to do wet or just cold and you want warm clothes in the morning.

Put your clothes under the outside bottom of your sleeping bag. Between your bag and your ground pad, works every time. It aso beats trying to put your clothes inside the bag.

yes - this is a good trick and I should have mentioned it. It works for a few items (like one pair of underwear, one shirt, one pair of socks). It works in normal humidity and at temps over about 20 degrees.

mrcoffeect
01-02-2014, 08:45
Warm a couple rocks by the campfire and put them in you shoes to dry them. works better than melting your shoes by trying to use the fire to dry them. They also make good hand or sleeping bag warmers when wrapped with a hankie.