Personally I really like using just my Dri Ducks top it is light-ish packable-ish and if I tear a hole in it on a tree branch or anything like that I am only out 20-25 bucks.

But there are much lighter and packable options out there with better features. My biggest gripe about the dri ducks is the breathability. I have had the Marmot precip in my cart more than once but still cant bring myself to spend the bucks on it.

frogg toggs

My favorite rain/wind jacket of all time is a GoLite rain jacket. It's supposed to be breathable and "four layer". I don't see how, but it works. It's tissue paper thin, however its dry, tough, crunches down to nothing and weights practically nothing. It's withstood the test of time and has been all over the world with me for years. I'd buy another in a heart beat. You can still find GoLite stuff around on Amazon and Sierra Trading post.

An alternative opinion on the ‘rain problem’: The stiff-upper-lip method.

Rain gear is so complicated that you’d want different solutions for different climates and trips. After spending all that money and meticulously planning each trip to take the perfect gear… you’ll generally still wind up wet.

I basically gave up on it altogether and just wear a hat and shades to keep the rain out of my eyes. A spare set of dry clothes (my trusty sleep suit) are more useful to me than dedicated rain gear. And the rain is like taking a shower… a good thing in the backcountry!

Wetness alone is nothing to worry about- the problem is the cold that comes along with it. Since you are confident that you’ll stay warm you don’t need fancy rain gear.

Not all rain is equal! I have also come down to the grin and bear it method on coastal hiking where temperatures are moderate and vary only 5-10 degrees night and day and it is always and continually misty/humid. A dedicated dry layer for nights and daytime clothes that are easily wrung out. The miserable part is taking off the dry clothes in the morning and putting on the cold wet clothes. Makes you walk fast at first! I do take a wind shirt because the coast is always windy. The wind shirt acts like a wetsuit.

In high altitude mountains, I take rain gear. High altitude temperatures are just too cold to allow all your clothing to get wet. Needed also for wind protection. Storms come up suddenly and you cannot always stop and camp and must at times descend for hours to more sheltered spots and if soaked, you can easily drift into hypothermia in a very short time. My rain gear is pretty simple. I actually use REI kids rain pants because it is made without frills. I am lucky that it fits me. My rain jacket is also very simple, Montbell, and it also doubles as a warmth layer.

I have been experimenting with an umbrella. It also can be used to provide needed shade when you have to walk along a hot, south facing slope of granite without a tree in sight. Jury is out on it yet. If I take the umbrella, it has to be my rain gear, since I will not take it as an extra.

The other method is the "weather forecast" method! Just stay home if rain is forecast. This actually often works in the Sierra in mid to late summer if you are only doing a 2-3 day trip.

Daisy is right (of course, we have separately backpacked in very similar conditions). With temps down in the 40s or 30s F and windy, as normally happens in high mountain environments, you can't afford to get wet. Hypothermia happens really fast under such conditions.

Here's a hint for the "suck it up" method. If it stops raining long enough, and your clothing is made of synthetic materials, it will dry from your body heat in less than an hour. If this doesn't happen before bedtime (it usually doesn't), I take a large plastic bag, put my damp daytime clothing inside, seal it up and put it in the bottom of my sleeping bag. The clothing won't dry (you definitely don't want the moisture in your sleeping bag insulation), but in the morning it will be body temperature so you won't scream when you put it on! Plus, with the clothing already warmed to body temp, it will dry from your body heat that much faster.

Using an umbrella with trekking poles is not something I want to try to do, and I definitely can't hike without trekking poles. Plus fighting an umbrella in windy conditions is no fun, since I have no desire to play Mary Poppins.

Agreed, the 'stiff-upper-lip' method is not for all conditions. In extreme zones all bets are off. If you can't setup an emergency shelter and slip into dry clothes then you definitely need more rain protection!

Putting on the damp clothes in the morning is jolting but also a great hiking motivator- more rousing than any cup of coffee that's for sure! I just stay in my sleep suit until I'm ready to hike

Ultimately it depends on the terrain, climate, and your personal tolerance for wetness. Having some method to stay warm is key, though.

That's a good tip on the body-temp-wet-clothes-bag, OM. I'll have to try that out.

I've been having my own debate about rain gear recently, and think I've come to similar conclusions about the real life effectiveness of WPB fabrics and keeping dry. I also have found that the stiff upper lip/grin and bear it method can work pretty well if its mild and not pouring, and actually be more enjoyable than wearing my rain jacket. My rain jacket weighs almost a pound, for something I very rarely use (and don't enjoy using), so I have been thinking about replacing it with something lighter.

I'm starting to lean towards buying something like dry ducks or O2 rainwear for when I truly need something, but worry about long term durability. For those of you who use them, how often do you have to replace them? After 5 uses? 20? I'm not really a big fan of the concept of thinking of things as disposable.

The only other thing I have thought about is buy or make a poncho, but I worry about how effective they would be in a real storm, as opposed to calm rain. Do those of you who use ponchos find them to be enough protection for sideways rain/very windy conditions?

I've gone through phases of preferring one form of raingear over another, and overall don't have too much of a preference. A poncho can work fine in sideways rain and wind, depending on your expectations. With the caveat that I "belt" mine, using a little stretchy shock cord and a cord lock. Without that, yes, PITA in the wind. If you expect to backpack or dayhike a lot in rain, the Packa is a great piece of gear. I don't tend to ever use mine, however, because --- as it turns out --- we most of us don't go hiking in conditions where we expect a lot of rain! :-)

My go-to rain jacket is an OR Helium II. I used the original Helium and liked that too until the zipper got wonky on my and OR replaced it for free with a II.

I don't expect this to keep me utterly dry in any conditions. Again, it's about expectations and process. It will keep me dry for a bit, and if it keeps raining beyond that it comes down to temperature control a lot more than "being dry". I like that the Helium II is lightweight enough that I don't consider bringing a separate windshirt, this jacket does double duty. And I like that it can be sort of "modular". With a poncho, it's all or nothing. With the light rain/wind jacket I can optionally add a cuben rain skirt, cuben pack cover or neither.

I like also that it looks and works like a "regular jacket" around town, and traveling to and from the trail. I like that it packs small as well as light. I'm about to do a fairly long bike trip, where volume in my saddlebag panniers is a bigger factor than weight, and this jacket is "making the cut" for that trip.

It's worth occasionally reapplying the DWR onto the fabric, which is a little hassle, but no disaster if I get lazy and just don't.

I'm sure there are lots of fine choices; this one works for me.

Hey Brian, do you have a trip report on how your OR Helium II performed on your bike trip? I'm thinking of a lightweight dash on the bike but maybe with a 4oz windshirt just for a change instead of a 20oz Showers Pass bike jacket.

Haven't done the bike trip yet. But I'm going relatively low mileages, not terribly high speed; I doubt it will surprise me much as I've hiked in it a lot.

Forecast for the trip includes a fair bit of rain, so I expect to get wet some; as with hiking, IMO it's all about temperature control. I wear quick-drying clothing, so no worries really, just a mild and temporary comfort issue at times.

All that said, every time you change a variable on a trip, confident predictions can turn out to be hash! :-)

As I've mentioned numerous times, I don't swallow the myth of "waterproof/breathable" (WPB), since I've tried several and found them neither breathable nor (after the first few weeks) waterproof. (The so-called "WP" under the pack's shoulder straps wears out really fast). I much prefer non-breathable and truly waterproof ("WP/non-B"?) rain wear. If it's cold, I don't sweat in it. If it's warm, I leave it off, wear very lightweight, fast-drying shirt and pants, and just get wet. I get a jacket that's way too big which allows for more ventilation for "in-between" conditions.

Quite a few seem to agree with me, including Andrew Skurka and "Section Hiker's" Phillip Werner (as well as some of our members here). A few days ago, "Section Hiker" published a review of the Lightheart Gear Rain Jacket, wbich may interest some of you. It's cheaper ($99) and lighter (7 oz.) than most WPB jackets, but has many features such as 15" lont pit zips, full-flap front zip, full brim hood, two good-sized inside (and therefore waterproof) pockets and two handwarmer pockets. It was seeing this review that inspired this post.

My own rain jacket is one of the very last "Brawny Gear" jackets made of silnylon (I had to seal the seams with Silnet, of course) which weighs about 4 oz. It unfortuntely is an anorak (pullover) but I got the largest size so there's plenty of room. In fact, it's roomy enough that I could add a front zipper if I wanted. In addition to being lightweight, it's also extremely compact when stuffed into my pack! I've been using it for 10 years and it's still plenty waterproof.

There are other lightweight WP/non-B rainwear items around, from such sources as Luke's Ultralight, Sierra Designs (the cagoule designed by Skurka), and AntiGravity Gear. These all have pit zips and front zippers and some are lighter than the one discussed above.

I get little enough rain that I just bring a poncho for wind/water layer.