Well, we attempted an overnight test of our equipment this weekend. But since we had bad weather in the forecast we brought along the popup as "plan B".

We headed out of town for a 3 day weekend to a mountain bike park we've been wanting to go to. We were 3 hrs from home. We figured we'd bring our car camping comforts along "just in case" but we brought the backpacks and gear to give it a trial weekend.

In addition to some fun mountain biking, we did some hiking with the packs to get an idea of the weight and endurance factors.

Friday night we camped at a campground - but planned to keep it simple with the gear in the pack.... then the rains started. Our fair weather tent just doesn't cut the mustard. We ended up in the popup for safety reasons (30mph winds, golf ball sized hail and 3+" of rain).

I know that in the years of car camping - I've never found a tent that is water proof enough to not let the water in during a big rain storm.

What do you all do when you are backpacking and get stuck in the rain? How do you keep your gear dry? (more perticularly the sleeping bag, so you can stay warm and get sleep?)