"Temporary" RAIN GEAR
We carry "rain gear" with us on any trips. Mountain or desert camping. Especially if the gear is light and thin. Once a shower goes through, it can be rolled up and stuck into our shoulder strapped collecting bags.
We survived for years with the $1 Disneyland rain ponchos and now Nancy keeps them in her closet as "memories" from our twenty year ago Disney adventure. More a yellow colored trash bag with a hood attached.
When in the Desert, the monsoon showers move through and a trash bag with a hole for your head and arms works great. A downpour, you most likely would be sitting in your trailer reading a good novel. But with a hat and trash bag the sun comes out shortly afterwards and you are comfortable and dry. Especially if you are wearing shorts and not long pants that do take more time to dry out.
Of course for the mountains, when the showers come through the temperatures can drop twenty to thirty degrees from the normal highs and linger for hours or days. So we have slightly heavier rain gear and pants. Fly fisherman already know this, but the casual camper needs to think of what to expect at elevation. The humidity may jump into the 80%+ and linger as well, so you had better vent your trailer so it does not become a Rain Forest... inside from the moisture condensation.
For emergencies, the large trash bag works great. Mostly in stylish BLACK. Small trash bags for the munchkins who can magic marker something on them like a Halloween costume. Most are WHITE and easy to see them running around outside burning up some sugar.
The most miserable are the Mountain Showers. The humidity lingers and the fog rolls into camp. If camped in the trees, the wind is nonexistent. Many Mountain roads maintained by the Forest Service or County are all season for hunters, so traveling in and out is not the problem. The discomfort is the high humidity over night and cool temperatures. If you have been there, you know what I am trying to describe.
The most pleasant are the Desert Showers or even Downpours... if you are on high ground. It dries out very quickly and the fresh air is worth the short inconveniences. Utah camping... you need to be 'very careful' where you camp as the soil becomes damp and mud. The surface water then begins to FLOW and flash flooding can occur. The dry arroyos become dangerous and you might have to wait out the weather for the ground to dry out. Just lay back and let the sun bake the road into the normal compact dry mud pie that they are when off the blacktop.
Colorado on the Front Range is expecting rain every day this week. If you are coming into the high country, maybe prepare for damp. Although the mountains can be sunny and dry, while Denver is getting swamped with rain.
This time of year... be prepared for the afternoon showers in the West. Just think of the tent campers... and you will feel better. OK?
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Human Bean
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