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5 Tips On How To Enjoy Hiking In The Rain

Post author By Dylan
Post date February 10, 2022

5 Tips On How To Enjoy Hiking In The Rain:

Hiking is fun, but sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate, and you are stuck hiking in the rain. For some, rain can be the end of a nice hike and the beginning of misery. If unprepared, rainfall during a trek can leave you cold, wet, and can even be dangerous depending on how harsh conditions are.

I know this all too well, as my first backpacking experience in rainy weather was NOT a comfortable one. I was basically dropped from Manhattan into the wilderness of Grand Teton National Park with the wrong gear and no backpacking skills, so at the time, I was miserable. However, after discovering the following tips, I learned how to enjoy hiking in the rain!

To enjoy hiking in the rain you need to be safe, comfortable, and have a positive outlook. If you master the below, you will enjoy hiking in the rain:

Research and prepare for trail conditions
Get the right gear
Dry Out Your Gear
Safety
Perspective

Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links on this page are affiliate links, if you go through them to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. Using these links does not affect the cost of the product, the price remains the same link or not.

Research And Prepare For Trail Conditions:

When heading out in the wilderness, the last thing you want is to be in a situation where a strong storm can bring on dangerous events such as river floodings, avalanches and mudslides.

The best way to avoid these situations is to make sure you thoroughly research and prepare for the conditions you will be hiking or backpacking in. The best ways to do this include:

Researching the weather
Discuss park conditions with rangers
Read trip reports on the park

Research Weather Conditions

Researching the weather you are hiking in is easy nowadays. Just check your phone to see the chances of encountering rain or snow during your hike. Then make sure you bring the right gear and choose a trek that will be safe even if you encounter inclement weather. Better yet, pick a date without a forecast of rain!

Discuss Your Hike Or Backpacking Itinerary With Rangers:

After you have an idea of what weather conditions you can expect, you should touch base with the park rangers to ask if any particular trails or hikes should be avoided in situations of inclement weather. Some areas that can be dangerous in times of rainfall are river crossings and steep rock scrambles. Park rangers are the most knowledgeable people in the park and can provide reliable information on trail conditions.

Read Trip Reports To Learn More About Trail Conditions:

Another helpful resource for preparing for your hike is by using trip reports. There are many websites where backpackers and mountaineers submit trip reports detailing the park’s weather and trail conditions.

Trip reports are a great way to have up-to-date information on the latest trail washouts or downed bridges to give you a better picture of park conditions. By knowing the most recent trail updates before a hike, you will avoid potentially dangerous situations that can arise from heavy rainfall keeping your hike fun and safe.

Have High Quality Rain Gear:

Having high-quality rain gear is essential whenever heading out on the trail, rain gear being no exception. On my first backpacking trip, I made every gear mistake possible. I had no rain cover, no dry bag, all my clothing was cotton, and I was a mess. After several more equipment fails, I finally got myself some high-quality rain gear that worked. It turns out good rain gear keeps you dry and helps you enjoy hiking in the rain. Who knew!?

You should be using the research you have done above on the expected weather and trail conditions to help guide you on exactly what pieces of gear you will need. But we will go over some of the essentials.

Raincover For Your Pack:

A rain cover is a simple yet crucial piece of equipment. It is essentially a waterproof, elastic piece of plastic that wraps around your pack protecting the contents from the rain.

YOU NEED THIS. If you are caught in the rain without a rain cover, you risk ALL of your equipment getting wet. I’m talking spare clothes, sleeping bag, tent, ALL OF IT. Not only will you be cold, but all of the rain getting absorbed into your pack will significantly increase the weight you are carrying around, and you will have a terrible time.

**Pro Tip** if you arrived at the trail and forgot a rain cover, you can use a garbage bag! Just cut holes for your straps, and you will be good to go!

Osprey Ultralight Raincover

or

Rain Jacket:

A rain jacket is another mandatory piece of gear to carry with you no matter where, when, or how far you are hiking. Not only does it help keep you dry, but it also keeps you warm. Without a rain jacket, you are far more susceptible to developing hypothermia in situations of cold weather and heavy rainfall.

North Face Venture 2 Jacket

or

Water Resistant Hiking Boots And Socks

Hiking boots and socks are a must when hiking in the rain as they offer a degree of water resistance are quicker to dry than many other options out there. While there is no such thing as entirely waterproof hiking boots, what is on the market works quite well and dries off rather quickly.

Wool Hiking socks are also essential as their moisture-wicking properties are great for hiking in the rain and drying quickly.

Oboz Bridger Mid B-Dry Hiking Boots:

Darn Tough Hiker Cushion Sock:

Dry Bag

A dry bag is another helpful piece of equipment to bring with you when hiking in the rain. Dry bags are waterproof stuff sacks that add an extra layer of water protection for your gear. I typically keep extra clothes or electronics in dry bags when hiking. When I am at camp, I use them to make a bear hang when storing my food and odorous items. Read “How To Store Food While Backpacking” to learn more about food storage when outdoors.

Sealine Dry Bag

or

Rain Pants And Rain Boot Covers (Gaiters)

So rain pants and boot covers are not always essential like the above pieces of gear but can be useful in certain situations. I would recommend getting rain pants and rain boot covers on longer backpacking trips where you are gauranteed to encounter rain. While I personally have never used these I wish I had them on my trek of the Tour Du Mont Blanc where it rained for four of my eight days on the trail!

Marmot PreCip Eco Pant

or

Outdoor Research Helium Gaiter

or

How To Stay Safe When Hiking In The Rain

Hiking in the rain can lead to dangerous situations such as:

lightning storms
River floods
Slippery rock scrambles

These situations can be sudden, and you may face them regardless of how much you prepare or the quality of your equipment. So knowing how to respond to these events safely is crucial.

Hiking Safety In Lightning Storms

Mountain weather can be unpredictable. One moment you may have clear skies, the next, you are caught in a raging lightning storm. Whenever hiking with lightning present, safety is your number one priority. Here are a couple of tips to keep you safe when hiking in a lightning storm:

Find Low Ground: If you are on a summit or ridgeline, get down from there and find lower ground immediately.
Ditch The Metal: you should keep all of your metal equipment (metal frame backpacks, trekking poles, ice axes, etc) at least 100ft away from you if you.
Take Cover: Avoid open spaces such as large fields or hillsides. These areas act like magnets for lightning. You need to take coverage, whether in a cave or the forest. If you go in the woods, be sure not to take shelter under the largest tree in an area as it can act as a lightning rod.
Read through the Washington Trail Associations article for more information on lightning safety

River Flooding

During heavy rainfall, rivers can flood, which can cause strong currents, trail washouts, and destroy bridges. If you find yourself in a situation where a river is overflowing onto the trail, DO NOT attempt to cross it. River currents are fastest during and after periods of heavy rainfall and can sweep you away if you try to cross their strong currents. You should seek high ground immediately and either wait out the storm or begin planning an alternate route.

Rock Scrambles In The Rain

Rock scrambles can be challenging enough in dry weather. When it’s raining, the rocks can be extremely slippery, making them dangerous to scale. Should you encounter a rock scramble when hiking in the rain, I recommend:

Evaluate the situation do not attempt a technically difficult scramble in the rain.
Wait for the rain to clear and consider setting up camp.
Consider taking an alternate route to avoid the scramble.

Dry Off Your Gear And Clothes After Hiking In The Rain

After you spend a day hiking in the rain, you need to make sure you are drying out your gear and clothes for your next day of hiking. If you are going on a day hike, this is easy. Once you get home, just wash your clothes and throw them in the dryer.

However, when it comes to backpacking, you need to get creative to dry off your gear and clothes for the next day of trekking. The last thing you want to do is a hike in wet clothes. It’s uncomfortable, cold, and can cause blisters. A couple of ways to dry off your things after a day of hiking in the rain include:

Have a dry change of clothes
Remove the soles of your hiking boots
Put wet clothes in your sleeping bag while you sleep.
Avoid cotton

Have A Dry Change Of Clothes

While this isn’t exactly drying off your gear, it is still helpful to have another set of dry clothes to wear after a day of hiking in the rain. When backpacking, I usually have a set of sleep clothes and extra hiking clothes to change into, which comes in handy if my clothes from the previous day are still wet. Having a dry set of clothes makes your next day of hiking infinitely more enjoyable.

Remove The Soles Of Your Hiking Boots

Once you arrive at camp, kick off those wet hiking boots to put on your camp shoes. Then remove the soles from your hiking shoes and them both in the sun to dry. By separating your soles from your boots, you give the sun a bit more surface area to hit, allowing them to dry quickly for your next day of hiking.

Put Your Wet Clothes In Your Sleeping Bag While You Sleep

When you get back from hiking in the rain, you are soaking wet! So you want to try to dry those clothes off as quickly as possible. You’ll find that simply leaving them out overnight to dry doesn’t get the job done. A little trick I like to use is to put some of my wet clothes in the bottom of my sleeping bag when I am sleeping. This helps dry them off faster by using my body heat!

Avoid Cotton

The classic hiker’s line is “Cotton Kills.” While that may be a bit of exaggeration, cotton is a material that will retain more water and will take longer to dry out, making it less than ideal for hiking in the rain. So whenever purchasing hiking gear, you want to do your best to avoid cotton products when possible. Maybe instead of “Cotton Kills,” we’ll go with “Don’t use cotton for hiking because it retains water and sweat will leave you super uncomfortable.”

Keep A Positive Perspective

The next tip is to keep a positive outlook when hiking in the rain. Staying positive when you are cold and wet can be challenging, but if you use the following tips, you may start to actually enjoy hiking in the rain!

Appreciate nature in rain
Let loose
Be grateful for the little things

Appreciate Nature In Rain

As I said it can be tough to stay positive when cold and wet, but it is essential to realize hiking in the rain gives you a unique way to experience nature. Rain makes the smells of the forest and plants come to life, and you get to hear is a symphony of raindrops playing as you trek. To put it simply, nature is pretty cool when it is raining, so take a second to appreciate it and don’t get bogged down by the inconvenience of rain.

Let Loose

Let loose! Don’t worry about being wet anymore. It doesn’t matter. Nothing you can do will stop the rain, so why worry about it. Keep on hiking, and eventually, being cold and wet won’t bother you. You may even start to feel free, running and yelling like a wild child through the wilderness (or maybe that’s just me). Either way, you need to finish your hike, so you might as well do it with a smile on your face enjoying yourself in nature!

Be Grateful For The Little Things

When you finally arrive at camp or your car you will be so excited and happy because you are now free to relax, change your clothes and get comfortable. When you get warm and have your first bite of food, it will taste amazing no matter what it is!

There are very few times I have been as happy as when I arrive at camp from a rainy hike treating myself to the most basic needs shelter, dry clothes and a warm meal.

Hope This Helps!

I hope these tips help you out for your next hike in the rain. Post your hiking in the rain tips in the comments!

Ultimate Backpacking Gear Guide

Best Hiking Boots For Morton’s Neuroma:

7 Best Backpacking Tools:

5 Best Men’s Backpacking Clothes:

Outdoors for Beginners backpacking for beginners

How To Carry And Treat Water When Backpacking or Hiking

Post author By Dylan
Post date January 15, 2022

How To Carry And Treat Water When Backpacking Or Hiking:

Why Is It Important To Stay Hydrated?

Whenever we are hiking or engaging in any activity that involves sweating, we must adequately rehydrate. Poor rehydration practices can lead to dehydration, which can in turn, cause muscle cramping, fatigue, dizziness, and in extreme cases, death.

What sets backpacking and hiking apart from other forms of exercise is that unlike going for a jog in your neighborhood, you can’t just grab a water bottle from a store when you are parched out on the trail. When hiking or backpacking, you are in remote regions without potable water readily accessible. Therefore, knowing how to carry and treat water when in the backcountry are vital skills for any outdoorsman.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product after clicking a link I will receive a commission. The price of the product remains the same if you purchase through the link or not.

How Much Water Do You Need To Bring When Backpacking?

Before we get into how to carry and treat our water, how much do we need? The answer constantly changes depending on the situation, as there are many variables to consider when planning how much water you need.

How Far You Are Hiking: The longer you’re trekking, the more you will sweat. Therefore it stands to reason that longer hikes will require more water to stay hydrated.
Water Accessibility: You should familiarize yourself with a park map before embarking on a hike to plan out potential water sources where you can resupply. This is especially important when hiking in desert regions, where water sources are few and far between. Sometimes hiking in a desert environment may even require you to carry all the water you will need for the trip on your person.
Climate: If you are hiking in warmer or more humid climates, your body will lose more fluid from sweat than in cooler temperatures, so it is crucial to keep the weather in mind when planning your water needs.
Bodyweight: Size is a commonly overlooked factor when planning on how much water to take on a backpacking trip. Someone with more bodyweight generally carries around more water than someone with less.

I personally carry three liters of water on me total with the expectation that I will resupply during a backpacking trip. As mentioned, the amount of water you need will vary based on many factors, so I would always check with a park ranger on conditions and appropriate water preparation for the time of year you are visiting the park.

Is Water Enough?

Is water all you need to keep you adequately hydrated on the trail? I used to think it was until I started hiking longer distances, then I realized I was frequently cramping and easily getting fatigued despite constantly drinking water.

Eventually, I learned that although I was frequently rehydrating with plain water, I neglected to properly replete my body’s electrolytes. Electrolytes such as sodium and potassium are crucial for sustaining long periods of repetitive aerobic exercise such as hiking.

I recommend adding an electrolyte tablet or powder to your water bottle or bladder to make sure you are correctly repleting your electrolytes while out on the trail. Some that work well for me are:

NUUN Sport electrolyte tablets:

Gatorade Endurance Powder:

Water Resupply

Where To Resupply Water When Backpacking?

When on a multi-day backpacking trip, it is not feasible to carry all of the water you need to drink during the trip in your backpack. Therefore you must rely on local water sources. Ideally, you want to get water from a fast-moving stream or river as these are generally cleaner and give less opportunity for bacteria to grow than the still water of a pond.

Do You Need To Treat Water While Backpacking?

Yes, you MUST treat your water before drinking it. The reason for this is that untreated water can contain parasites, viruses, or microbes that can wreak havoc on your digestive system.

Purifications Vs Filtration

Before we get into how to treat our water we first need to go over the important difference between water filtration vs purification.

Water filtration is filtering the water using a barrier technique which is commonly effective for larger debris, particulates, and bacteria however it often misses smaller organisms such as viruses.

Water purification is purifying the water typically through a chemical that will remove the smaller organisms like viruses.

How Do You Treat Water When Backpacking?

There are four methods to filtering water when in the backcountry:

Treat it with purifying drops or tablets.
Mechanical Filtration
Ultraviolet Light purification
Boiling

Water Treatment With Purification Drops Or Tablets:

Treatment with purification drops or tablets is a method that relies on a chemical reaction to kill any bacteria, viruses, or parasites in your water. Before treating your water with these methods, you need to make sure you perform a basic filtration of your water by using a piece of cloth such as a buff to keep out larger debris from entering your water bottle. Two popular options for this version of water filtration include:

Aquamira Chloride Water Treatment (drops)

The Rundown:

Wait time to drink: 15 Minutes
Cost: $
Ease of use: Very easy just place drops and wait.
Taste: Has a metallic aftertaste
Upkeep: None

Iodine Tablets Water Treatment

The Rundown:

Wait time to drink: 30 Minutes
Cost: $
Ease of use: Very easy just drop tablets in and wait.
Taste: Has a metallic aftertaste
Upkeep: None

Pros

Cheap
Easy to do
Lightweight

Cons

Gives water a metallic aftertaste.
Requires waiting for water to be treated.

Pump Filtration:

Using a pump relies on mechanical filtration that removes the debris and particulates such as harmful bacteria and protozoa from the water. A pump filter usually requires having a separate bag that you use to capture unfiltered water. After you have your unfiltered water, you will need to attach the filter to the bag and squeeze the bag to push the water through the filter and into your water reservoir or mouth.

One nice feature is that some pumps can be attached to water bottles or even the hose of a water bladder, so you can filter the water as you drink it.

There are many different water pumps out there(many of them extremely bulky), but my number one choice is the Sawyer mini pump below:

Sawyer mini water filtration system:

The Rundown:

Wait time to drink: None
Cost: $
Ease of use: More time-consuming if manually filtering water each time.
Taste: Like regular water!
Upkeep: Requires regularly backwashing the filter to remove filtered debris and particulates from prior uses.

Pros

Cheap
No aftertaste
Lightweight and smaller than traditional pumps.
Can drink water immediately after filtration.

Cons

More tedious to filter water if not drinking directly from the filter.
Risk of malfunction with bag breaking if you squeeze too hard.
Requires upkeep
Will not remove smaller bugs like viruses.

UV Light Filtration

This process uses UV rays from a lamp light to kill harmful bacteria, viruses, and protozoa in your water. It ist as easy as dipping the light into your water and holding it there for the specified amount of time. If you are interested in this type of filtration check out the following product:

Steri-Pen UV Water Purifier:

The Rundown

Wait time to drink: 48-90 seconds
Cost: $$$
Ease of use: Very easy just wave the light around the water until prompted to stop.
Taste: Like regular water!
Upkeep: Battery operated
***Can only filter up to 1 Liter of water at a time***

Pros

No aftertaste
Lightweight
Can drink water shortly after treatment.

Cons

Expensive
Can only limit 1 liter of water at a time making it inconvenient to use with water bladders as they often hold more than 2L. You would need to make sure your bladder is not holding more than 1L.

Boiling Water To Treat It:

Boiling water as a means of filtration should only be used as a last resort if one of the above methods has failed. Boiling water is a tedious and time-consuming process and would be extremely inconvenient when backpacking. Not only does it require carrying a large pot around to boil your water, but you also need to wait for the water to cool off after boiling.

Rules With Boiling Water:

According to the CDC, you must have water at a rolling boil for 1 minute if under 6,500 ft in elevation and 3 minutes if over 6,500 ft elevation.

How To Carry Water When Backpacking/Hiking:

Okay, now that we learned how to resupply and filter our water, how do we carry it all? Fortunately, there are several different methods that you can go with when it comes to transporting your water during your hike.

I try to carry a minimum of three liters of water when backpacking, usually consisting of a two-liter bladder and a Nalgene bottle(as previously mentioned this can change depending on the regions I am hiking).

Water Bladder:

Water bladders are a bag-like reservoir typically stored in a pouch in your pack. These bladders carry anywhere from two to six liters of water. While they can get heavy when full, they are good to have when going on longer-distance treks as you can sip as you hike rather than stopping each time you need a sip of water.

Hydropak Water Bladder

or

The Rundown:

Water Capacity: has 2 and 3 Liter options
Cost: $$
In Line Filtration: (aka can you connect a filter to the hose)

Nalgene Water Bottle:

Nalgene bottles are a classic with the hiking community. These nearly indestructible water bottles typically carry about a liter of water and are very helpful when cooking or washing up after a long day’s hike.

Nalgene Water Bottle:

or

The Rundown:

Water Capacity: 1L
Cost: $
It’s a water bottle but indestructible.

Plastic Water Bottle

One of the other options available for carrying your water around is a run-of-the-mill plastic water bottle. I found that these are not great for backpacking trips because of their lower volume but for a day hike they can work quite well.

Drink Up!

Water is something we all need no matter where we are. I hope this article helped you answer your questions water storage and treatment in the backcountry.