Well, here I am, unemployed. What do I do? Instead of sitting around waiting for people to call on my resume, I join the Sheriff's SAR team as a volunteer.

Hey, free food! Not to mention carpooling into the wilderness. Or helicopter-pooling!

But - we supply most gear other than radios and GPS units, and my regular backpacking gear is more than I want to carry. SAR isn't about comfort and enjoyment, after all, and we're out for a day most of the time. So. I can get away with one of my quilts, I'm sure, and probably the NeoAir, or since it's not about comfort and I'll be exhausted enough after bushwacking all day, a foam pad. Possibly it might just be a case of stuffing them in my larger daypack with the ten essentials and warm clothes, and away I go. Throw in the 13 oz tarp and I'm covered.

I'm wondering about adding a very light bivy, however, just because. I know that the tarping isn't as bulletproof as a tent in rain, and at any point we may be out for more than one day, unexpectedly, in whatever weather the lost person went out in. If I take a down quilt, wrapping it in some waterproof or at the very least water resistant cover, might be wise.

I've also thought about leaving the tarp and taking a Gatewood Cape. Dual use! I have a Driducks poncho, but going cross country with a SAR team is not the same as whistling down a trail, and those are fragile. In reading about the Gatewood it sounds like it isn't as fragile as the ducks.

1) anyone here using the Gatewood Cape? at 14 oz it's attractive and dual use. I sort of like the idea of taking one, plus a large trash bag or 2mm plastic or tyvek for ground sheet. Anyone have issues with rain spatter or setup? My claustrophobia likes this option better than a bivy bag. Drawback is as always with poncho/tarps - what if you have to go out for a midnight catholing in the rain?

2) thought about adding velcro and drawcord, and making the driducks a dual use down quilt cover. But it's flimsy and I'd have to start all over again with modifying a new one when I wear holes in it. Or - I could use it even if I get a poncho/tarp solution, sew shut the head hole and foot end, and make it a dedicated quilt overbag - it's light material. It would last longer that way. Cutting off parts and sewing rather than using velcro would probably lighten it up to maybe 5 oz.

3) Equinox silnylon/nylon bivy - cheap, 6 oz, but is it a condensation trap? Anyone used one? Was looking at the Six Moons Meteor but that's a summer bivy, and SAR is year round. The Equinox looks like it could be rolled down open and a bug net added to make it a summer bivy. Not really liking the bivy much, but I'm curious to hear from anyone who has used them how it worked for them, especially in the Sierra Nevada.

Whatever I do, it's got to be lighter than my hammock/quilt/tarp combo and fit in a day pack to make sense. So it must be lighter than four pounds total. I'm trying to stay light as possible without resorting to an emergency blanket and cutting up branches to make one of those primitive shelters they're probably going to train me to make. One of the old timers told me at the last training to get a saw! The Gatewood would also give me the ability to shelter someone else in a pinch, so I'm favoring that or the Wild Oasis at the moment.

Of course, I'm unemployed, so want to spend wisely....

Suggestions or feedback? Any veteran SAR folk around want to pitch in?