It rained for most of the weekend and I sat under a tarp for a good part of it, warm and slightly smug. Camp Bits has plenty on wet weather camping and I had read most of it before leaving. Still worth going.
The tarp did most of the work. Pitched high on one side and low on the other, it gave us a dry place to sit, cook, and hang wet jackets without soaking the tent. One cheap sheet of fabric and two poles changed the weekend. We ate every meal under it and never once got rained on while cooking.
Dry clothes stayed in a dry bag and came out in the evening, after the walking was done. That one rule matters more than any jacket I own.
Mornings were slow. Coffee on the stove, rain on the tarp, nobody in a hurry to be anywhere. On a sunny trip we would have been walking by seven and I would not remember any of it.
The forest after rain smells like nothing else, and I mean that literally. Wet bark, wet leaves, that mineral smell off the ground. I stood there for a while doing nothing at all.
I also found out which of my gear is actually waterproof and which is only water resistant. The jacket is fine. The boots are not. Worth knowing before a longer trip, and worth a wet weekend to learn. The boots have since been replaced.
Would I pick rain again? No. Was it worth going? Yes, and I would go back tomorrow.
