Ryley

right... well, hopefully the SO magic will enlighten us all :)

having soaked sleeping bags sounds way beyond reasonable, seems like you probably didn't have too much fun

I suspect it'll be some combination of site selection, venting, and other minor tricks

@RussellSteen hope you get a good answer to your tarp question, I'd be curious to see a thorough answer... my experience in tarps without groundsheets is zero, so I don't have a good answer... I also hear that it's a much bigger deal in areas with high humidity (i.e. not here)

Enthusiast badge - proof I need to get out of the house for a weekend

whoa, new design rolled out!

...and grunting and sweating while you pump ;)

ridiculous glass vial :)

oh I didn't realize there were tablets in the container, i assumed it was a liquid

dunno about the weight difference for a similar amount

but the iodine, especially the tablets versions I've seen, those seem easiest

I've used it on thru-hikes, seemed pretty straightforward except for the timing... I usually repackaged it into smaller bottles too, but that's just UL anal-ness :)

sounds pretty good... still have to wait for it to do it's thing to the water, but at least it's only one set of timing

and extra vitamin C doesn't hurt :)

ah

@RussellSteen Does iodine have a noticeable taste? I've never used it but heard that it tastes horrible

@LBell Yeah, I just always found that treating water is going to be fiddly - with pumps (cleaning filters, pumping, repairing clogs, replacing filters) or with chemicals (have to mix, time, then add to water, and wait).... so I just went with the lighter solution - 1 or 2 oz of chemicals vs 8 oz of a pump (and I believe at the time, my pump was actually a pound!)

@Outdoors @berry120 had a weird answer to this bivy question - seems like he's saying "I store my sleeping bags compressed" which is probably wrong, but probably right for a bivy

yep, you never know, maybe someone out there has found the magic fiddle-free filter system

@Kevin, Cellular antenna, I like that :)

when I jailbroke my 3GS, I got the ability to turn off the whole Phone portion but leave the GPS on, which was ideal for hiking

and airplane mode turns off all that and GPS

i.e. my phone has switches to turn of 3G and Edge, but you can still receive calls

@Kevin - what's a better wording than "radio antenna" to get across the idea of turning off your phone service, but not GPS :)

I thought you meant not following the trail, i.e. taking alternative routes

I call that perfectly reasonable

hah, that's not cheating at all :)

hehe, that's always the trick :)

I'm glad you guys are considering the AT... it's the start of a dangerous obsession :)

but rain jackets never keep the rain out... it always gets through eventually

we don't get that crazy humidity out here though.... when it rains it does get colder here

yeah, west coast - rain rain rain :)

and rain gear will just make you even wetter at that temp - sweat to death :)

exactly

yep

anyways, that's a pure personal choice from tons of experience in my local weather

I like the wind pants - cut the wind, and yeah, I'm wet, but I never get cold

a lot of people swear by the umbrellas... I've never tried it so I can't comment... but it does seem to be thru-hiker-friendly, definitely met some fans on long trails

I've started using "wind" pants and wind shirts instead of rain gear

yeah :) mid-summer, carrying rain gear might be silly - just get wet, if it's 75F, does it really matter? :)

I was surprised by stuff like my rain pants (which I almost never wear, but weigh a lb)

so necessary... you never realize how heavy some things are (stuff you've carried forever and never thought about) until you weigh it!

that's perfect :)

you'll be a "freak" on the AT

honestly, that seems to be the norm

considering what I hear from other people, horror stories of starting with 70lbs of gear

that's excellent

and once you start hiking, commit to it. stubbornness is a key trait of successful thru-hikers :)

dial in your gear as light as you possibly can

and reflect on whether that's something you really want