All the books and blogs I've read stress the importance of good rain gear. We did some research online and went on a couple of shopping trips to see what is available. What we found is that most jackets and pants are water resistant, not waterproof. I think it would be miserable to walk six or seven hours soaking wet, especially in windy conditions,so we bought a few things and tested them.
The first rain pants I bought were these. They are called Helly Hansen Voss. I have no doubt they are truly waterproof. The description says they are made of cotton but they have a plastic feel--think of a baby's rubber pants--and I thought they may be really hot. Another drawback was that they are heavy; weighing in at one pound. Since I will be carrying them in my backpack when I'm not wearing them it seemed like a lot of weight. Even so, I went back and forth on whether to keep them and ultimately returned them because of size. While they look really nice on this model, either the pants were altered or she is seven feet tall because they were a mile too long for me. Usually I have trouble finding pants that are long enough but these were w-a-a-a-a-y too long.
Then we visited our local Eddie Bauer store and checked out their hiking gear. Their Travex line has water-resistant pants so both Jim and I bought a pair. What we really like about these pants are that they look nice enough to wear off the trail and the length is adjustable. The hem of the women's pants can be rolled and buttoned into capris and the legs of the men's style zip off to become shorts.
After buying them, we put them to the test. It was raining a bit so we put them on and walked downtown for dinner. The pants stayed pretty dry and were not uncomfortably hot. The true test came when we walked home in the pouring rain. Still we were happy with the pants, and consequently each bought another pair, but realized our jackets would never work.
I ended up getting a set of Frogg Toggs. They are NOT stylish, but are extremely lightweight and should stand up to a pretty hard rain. They were also really cheap so if they don't make it through the trip, it's not a big loss.
Jim ended up ordering this Marmot jacket.
It came in the nick of time so he hasn't been able to test it's water resistance. I offered to spray him with the hose in the backyard but he didn't take me up on it!
There has been so much for us to consider when packing for this trip. We are extremely limited by space and weight and we will have to hand wash our clothing most days so everything must be fast drying. I hope we've chosen rain gear wisely!
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