It is acutually raining in San Diego today. Not hard yet, just a constant drizzle. When Tica and I went for our 8 miler today, I just wore a wool T and shorts. Came back soaked, but by doing this I have accumulated a body of knowledge about how I respond to stress. In this case being wet.

When it is dumping and cold I wear my backpacking rain gear and test it out. I hike hard generally, and to date have not found any gortex system that has kept me bone dry. It has kept me warm and damp though. This can be enough though. As long as you can get through the slow cautious sections along your path and stay warm enough, when you get to camp you can focus on setting up a dry area and change into dry clothes again. This has worked for me in terms of avoiding sever cases of hypothermia.

Who else gets out in all conditions to test out his or her setup?