My hike of the West Highland Way in Scotland is coming up soon, I can’t wait. This September, I will be hiking with my sister from Glasgow, 96 miles north to Fort Williams. Today I had a great opportunity to test my new gear in a pretty good rainstorm. I did a previous test in mild rain, but today I walked in a full-on downpour for about an hour. My gear worked pretty well. I recently upgraded to a new rain jacket from REI, Flash-Stretch Rain Jacket. I like how it fits and I like the arm vents. It fits pretty well around my hat. I used my same REI rain pants. It is hard to tell though how much getting wet is condescension or leaking water. I think the jacket is pretty good.
What was disappointing was my backpack cover. I have a 22L Osprey daypack and I used the Osprey rain cover. It is almost as wet on the inside of the cover as on the outside. I guess they aren’t really waterproof. I did some Googling and found that you can spray it with Scotchgard, I might try that. My pack did fine, it just got wet. I will need to look at including plastic bags and envelopes for my gear when I go on the hike in September. The West Highland Way can be very wet.
What I am pleased about is that I upgraded my hiking boots. I had a pair of Keen Targhee II, and wasn’t very happy with them. Something was just wrong with them. I have worn Keen’s for a long time, and they have been great. But not this pair. I changed to the Keen Targhee IV and they are excellent. This is the first time I have walked in a full rain with my boots. They did great. These are waterproof and my feet stayed dry. I ended up sometimes walking in the streams coming down the hill and they did a great job. Also, no slips on the rocks.
The West Highland Way is known for its rainy days and ever-changing weather. So I will get wet. But overall, I think I am prepared.
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