This weekend I had a very harrowing life or death experience backpacking through very thickly overgrown trail in 35 degree rain for over 10 miles of extreme up and down ruggedness of the Eastern Superstition Wilderness. I had a "rain repellent" jacket from Wally World and Dickies on and nearly killed myself because of this (hypothermia was starting to set in on me the last 3 miles to the TH). Basically I'm looking for recommendations on gear that is repellent even when pushing through thickly overgrown brush such as manzanita. Even the people in our group with better rain gear were completely soaked because of the strong brush pushing the water into our gear. I was looking at the Cabella's rain gear and I would imagine that since hunters don't always stay on trail to track down game this stuff might be the way to go but never found and specific reviews stating how good it was in the most extreme backcountry situations.

When I was working in forestry in the rainy PNW, the standard working rain gear was the same heavy-gauge stuff that commercial fishermen use. IIRC, mine was a set of Helly Hansens complete with suspenders for the pants. I wore the same set for over ten years, a lot of the time working in heavy brush and crawling through logging slash. I usually didn't stay completely dry but always stayed warm. Sadly, a set weighed about six pounds.

I don't think you would want something this bomb proof but you may want to look for a good set of waterproof nylon rain pants; cotton Dickies just won't cut it.

I spend a lot of time in the mountains south and east of Tucson and carry PU coated nylon rain pants and a Red Ledge Thunderlite WPB parka if rain threatens. Both of these hold up pretty well against brush. Don't get DriDucks for SW brush, they will be in shreds in hours. The Red Ledge parka weighs 12.5 oz, the rain pants weigh about 6 oz. Red Ledge also makes a pair of WPB rain pants if you are interested. Campmoor sells Red Ledge products. The parka is about $40, you can get the rain pants locally for $20-25.

Whatever rain gear you carry, in steady rain you need something warm-when-wet to wear under it. Fleece or wool are good choices.

Ooo ya thank you for reminding me.....this stuff needs to be able to stand up to forests of catclaw.....it's been VERY thick this year on some of the lesser maintained trails. Thank you for your recommendation, anybody else have some input?

I'm not sure that titanium raingear will hold up against catclaw. Best avoided.

I tend to agree with Pika with the following caution: In the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts everything is hostile to fabric. Catclaw is especialy unfriendly. Lightweight nylon garments like RedLedge will eventually get snagged. Besides, they don't breathe all that well. You might consider something radical. It has worked for me:
Wearing Driducks *under* protective clothing. They will still keep you dry, and the outer garments will keep them from getting shredded. Wear insulation under the DriDucks.

Jeans or Dickeys are good outside protection against thorny brush. If you give them a thorough treatment with Scotchguard or silicone spray, they will shed water pretty well - if nothing more, they will not get too heavy from the water. (If you never wash your jeans they will become practically waterproof. That is going too far for some folks, but it works.) At any rate, cotton work pants are good, general purpose wear for the desert. Make sure they are loose-fitting, then put on the DriDucks underneath when the cotton gets wet.

Top wear is another matter. Many cotton jackets are heavy. Mil-surplus field jackets tend to be both durable and not excessively heavy - especially if you remove unnecessary pockets. Again, give it a good water repellant treatment, then put on the DriDucks before you get too wet - again, under the cotton jacket. Since most of the brush is below shoulder height, you can put the DriDucks hood up with no further protection.

I really prefer light twill (Dickies and mil-surplus) to more "thorn-proof" fabrics such as that used in Carhart garments. It may not last forever, but it is much more comfortable and a whole lot lighter in weight.

DriDucks cost about $20 per set and weigh about 11 ounces. They are the most breathable waterproof garments available. If you get your insulation wet while gearing up, it will dry under the DriDucks.

I agree with Pika. Most of my experience is here in the Pacific NW and Alaska. PU coated nylon does work even though you will get condensation inside. Wear as little as possible to stay cool (not cold) to minimize sweat. The old saying here is that it is "better to have warm sweat than cold rain" on you when you are hiking. Gortex and that sort of stuff has the disadvantage of being expensive and requires some special care. I glassade in my coated nylon rain pants and just replace them every year or two when the bottom gets trashed. [font:Comic Sans MS][/font][color:#3333FF][/color]

What about when the catclaw is above shoulder height? In some sections of the Supes this year the catclaw hes gotten unusually tall. BTW a few of us at hikearizona.com are organizing FS approved catclaw revenge expeditions to clean up some of these trails.



I already use Dickies on any of my desert hikes. They keep you from getting sunburned, aren't too stiffling and are suprisingly good at not letting the catclaw rip it your legs. You still get some pokes. Then I use a a lightweight longsleve button up shirt...stops it for the most part as I push it away with my poles. You have to come home with some battle scars though : D



I'll have to try this solution out. Maybe get me some gators too.

I hate catclaw!! Sorry for the interruption, please continue.

Brilliant Spock!!!

In the desert I normally wear a Dickies long sleeve blue chambray shirt and REI Sahara pants. They provide the best protection from catclaw of anything I have used so far. I am going to get a smaller sized DriDucks to wear inside the shirt.

Tamarisk are beautiful, soft, hardy and provide a lot of shade. They also are an invasive species.

Catclaw are obnoxious and provide scanty shade- but they use less water and are a native species.

Catclaw evolved to test the mettle of desert hikers. Just remember: "Adversity is the anvil upon which character is forged". So, suffering is good for you.

I've found GoreTex fabrics to be the most durable waterroof/breathable choices for bushwhacking - I have Arc'teryx jackets in PacLite and XCR, and both have been through a lot of rough conditions, including spruce thickets and krummholz. A jacket made from PacLite might be a great choice for the conditions in Arizona - light and packable, pretty breathable, will hold up in the overgrown brush. A number of manufacturers make jackets from it (or the new ProShell), not all of them as pricey as the Arc'teryx ones. Definitely worth a look.

Cabela's is a good start. My father's been off-trail hiking and hunting with a set of their "Brushbusters" for over a decade and really likes them, but he prefers their much lighter "Ultrapack" raingear for trail use. (I don't know if Brushbusters are still on the market.) Both are goretex lined. It might be worth mentioning that my father lives in SE Alaska, a temperate rainforest where the brush is exceedingly thick. He ended up using this combo of off-trail/on-trail gear after years of trial and error in this environment.

Some wisdom he imparted to me was that it's not about staying dry - *all* raingear will eventually soak through or retain too much sweat, and you will get wet. It's about staying warm. It's better to accept that you may become wet, and dress accordingly. His clothing is a combination of wool, polarfleece, neoprene, and normal synthetic underwear. He sticks with breatheable raingear because it keeps a person dry during short showers and blocks wind, yet won't trap much sweat. He also claims it's warmer when wet than non-breatheable raingear.

Off-trail, my experience has been that the brush will remain soaked all day even if the rain stopped early morning. I assume that becoming soaking wet will be a possibility even if the forecast is only for light showers.

Hope this helps...

Well I picked up a $30 set of frogg toggs that even came with the hat. Not a bad deal for the piece of mind this stuff will give me. Also got washin waterproofing stuff for my bushwhacking clothes....I just need some fleece or wool pants and I shouldn't ever have to risk my life like that again hopefully.

Your father's tack sounds much like mine. my favorite raingear is a fleece - maybe a windshirt. I do carry a poncho for deluges, but don't use it much.