So it's been cloudy and rainy here over the last week or so and everyone around me keeps saying how lazy it makes them feel. It just got me thinking, am I the only one that looks outside, sees a cloudy or rainy day and just wants to throw on my hiking shoes and play?

We've had such stellar weather out here that we have not been faced with that in a while.
I like the rain, though. It's the wind that I could do without.
So by "play" do you mean hike in the rain?

Lol. Yes, hike, backpack, camp, heck even just take the dogs on a walk. I love the smell and the crisp air and it really just energizes me despite everyone around me who seem to just want to crawl back into bed. Although my poor little Dachshund probably wishes I just stayed in bed. He hates being wet!

I love hiking in the rain for all the reasons you mentioned. Also the woods are just *different* when they're wet. I feel the same way about snow.

Blue skies and dry trails are great but I like the variety that weather brings.

I'm an Oregonian living in California. I'm loving it here but I do miss the rain sometimes.

The best hike on a weekend was when it was dumping big ole flakes. I took Pooch out for a quick out and back, maybe an hour hike. Loved it, the giant flakes coming down was awesome. Another time after work, I went for my afternoon mt. bike ride, had my sweats and Polartec jacket on and ski goggles. Cool 45 minute ride with the snow hitting my goggles and my still being able to see. Loved it! Of course when I got home, my sweats were all white down the front.
Duane

short hikes in the rain/snow is the best time to test your gear ... at a low risk

and get you used to the techniques needed to avoid testing yr PLB

whats the point of all that new shiny waterproof rain gear, if you arent testing it out to make sure its solid ;)

Put on my seatle sombrero and event pullover and I can enjoy precip from 45 degrees down to 10 from the beach to the mountains to central park NYC.

That's when you meet the nice crazy people.

grog

short hikes in the rain/snow is the best time to test your gear ... at a low risk


Exactly. On top of cutting down on the crowds, bad weather hiking is excellent for experimenting with that trash bag rain wrap or trail runners + snow shoes combo, knowing your car + a warm bed and shower awaits you at the end of the day.

Mainly though, I like being out when no one else it out.

I love the rain. If I didn't, both here in Japan and my 10 years in Oregon would have been miserable until now. Rain makes mountains mysterious. It makes the next rise or bend in the trail a surprise. It brings out creatures you wouldn't see otherwise. As a photographer it brings out the colors in things and guarantees an even, gentle light. It challenges me to understand my equipment and makes me appreciate being warm and dry, or sipping that hot coffee. It hushes things and gets you contemplative. It leaves the mountains more to yourself, so you can hear your own thoughts or arrive in camp and most likely no one else will be there. It makes the landscape move.

it even tests your convictions about the controversy over misting in silnylon, especially when you live in a place like Japan where rain often comes down so hard and so suddenly you're completely drenched before you can even get your rain jacket out of the pack.

Plus it makes you feel alive... I don't mean "full of pleasure", but alive, as in reacting to something, whether it's joy, anger, misery, boredom, lyricism and song, cursing, or delight. It always elicits something!

Miguel,

3 years ago during drought conditions in North Carolina we were praying for rain. We got it, by the bucket loads. LOL ;-)

2 years ago it started raining on us 1 hour into the hike and rained for the next 5 hours continuously. We laughed about it like little kids in a water park.

Last year while hiking towards our intended campsite we decided to partake of Abby's Hostel due to a torrential 2 hour downpour that ended with clear skies and sunshine as we entered the grassy rolling meadow that Abby's sits on. Perfect! ;-)

The rain gets you out of your comfort zone for sure. Aah, but the smell of the fresh clean air and the forest after a rain can't be beat. The rain feeds the waterfalls and the streams where we get our water.

This year whether it rains or not we'll be out there.

Party On,

Newton

Well said.

Miguel, That's exactly how I feel. As an amature photographer myself, I have always been drawn to the stunning and colorful beauty that a good drenching can give the world. My favorite types of days are when it's that slate blue/gray color against the neon green that plants turn after a rain. I'm also in love with fog and the magical things it does with light.

I also do love to get a good gear test out of the worst weather days. I think it not only gives me confidence in my gear but also confidence in my understanding of weather and how it behaves. Overall it is good for a great afternoon and less fear when the weather changes unexpectedly on bigger trips.

This is the weather where I live. Starting in May:

May Gray
June Gloom
July No Sky
Fogust
Weptember (we weep because we saw no sun all summer)
Fogtober
Nosunber

So yeah, I do want to crawl back into bed.

Beds are for sick people or lazy people, sleep is overrated, get as little as you need an not a wink more. Ok, partially kidding of course.

Two fulltime working parents in the house, two littlin's, and a fondness for being out on dirt, makes it near impossible to have the luxury of deciding when I want to get outdoors, I don't have a choice most days, I take what I can when I can and don't complain..... rain, ridiculous heat, sand storms, or more heat. But that's just me, to each their own.

I think you might be the first person I've heard actually say a negative thing about Santa Barbara. Living on the coast must be rough.

"I think you might be the first person I've heard actually say a negative thing about Santa Barbara. Living on the coast must be rough."

It has its pluses and minuses and endless fog is one of the minuses. I feel like I wait summer out. I couldn't take a vacation this summer.

If i stayed in bed everytime i awoke to rain, the last time i would have got out of bed was in April! :)
Four or five days continuous rain is nothing unusual here. And i mean continuous.

What are these fabled things called dry camping pitches that i see mentioned on here?

What are these fabled things called dry camping pitches that i see mentioned on here?

@Mike: I've got one here from Jan 2007, where US states of Arizona and New Mexico borderlines intersect with Old Mexico (Sonora, I think)...

Edited by hknewman on 09/25/2011 19:39:11 MDT.

What is this thing you are calling "rain?"

--Mina in Texas

I discovered this stuff called rain about six years ago when I moved from my childhood home in Phoenix and went off to adventures in the Deep South. It's wet like a shower and the people seem to dislike it unless they don't see it once a week and then they get all upset :). I guess that might be why I love and appreciate the varied and interesting weather we enjoy here in Georgia more than the long time residents seem to.

Aha! Just this morning (before I read this thread this evening), we were on a family hike at McKinney Falls State Park, which normally has 2 sets of falls but currently has no falls anywhere, and we were talking about how, if it ever rains more than 3 drops again, we are going to stop whatever we are doing, and go outside walking in it, no raincoat, no umbrella, just go. Sadly, it has not rained enough in Austin to get anything wet for over a year, and the long term forecasts are for dry conditions at least through next spring or maybe longer. It looks like we may become another Phoenix.