Camping in the rain

[Pseudonym]

Where I tend to camp and paddle, the pinnacle of the practice seems to be in the art and science of moisture management.

I tend to try and 'wear it dry" when I can't otherwise leave it out in the sun. I love wool and a paddle jacket with cuffs that keep water from running down my arms inside the sleeves.

I stumbled on this discussion searching for "clothespins" and.... Mike's twisted line concept is genius! Definitely going in my quiver.

If it has been wet rainy damp for a few days and you get sunny skies you probably can’t set up enough “clothesline” length. FWIW, to keep wet socks and tee shirts held firmly while flapping in the sunny breezed just use a doubled loop of line, and helix twist it between a trees. Stuff the wet sock, shirt or grommet on wet rainfly through a twisted loop and presto, no clothespin clothespins.

One June night on Telos Lake, we got absolutely PUMMELED by rain. Camp was set, thank goodness. In the evening, before it really got going, we swam in a downpour while looking across the lake at the golden peak of Katahdin, through a gap in the clouds. After nightfall, it really opened up and then we watched lightning crack all around the lake, while the deluge created streams through our campsite. With two cheap hardware store tarps rigged over the fire, and a little gap through the overlap for smoke, we sat snugly in our camp-chairs and watched comfortably from our "front porch." I'll never forget it. That said, I was very glad to go to sleep in a hammock up off the ground and wake up to a sunny day so that we could dry everything out.