It seems regardless of the weather, inevitably my clothes get soaked. Whether its from sweat or from the weather. I layer, have a merino wool base layer, and shed clothes as needed. It's not that bad except when you wake up the next morning & have to put cold, wet hunting clothes back on. In the Marine Corps we'd put our clothes underneath our sleeping bags & use our body heat to dry things up. It was somewhat effective, but not for soaking wet clothes & not something I'd recommend for nice sleeping bags, especially down ones. The only thing I've found truly effective is dry heat you get from a wood burning stove. Here in lies the dilemma. I have a shoebox size wood burning stove for back country hunting set ups, but am hesitant to use it for fear the smoke will scare off the elk. Any thoughts about the smoke & the effect on game, or any methods you might use successfully to dry out your clothes?
Drying out clothes in the back country?
- Thread starter usmcvet
- Start date
buglelk
Administrator
- Nov 30, 2012
- 388
usmcvet,
As you know, the downside of cotton in the backcountry is the fact that it doesn't dry. Wool is great in that it keeps you warm even while it's wet, but it also doesn't dry very fast. I really like wearing synthetics in the back country as they dry incredibly fast. A good synthetic base layer can literally be washed out in a creek, then wrung out and hung to dry and be dry in 30-40 minutes.
When you hike hard and sweat, the last thing you need is a wet shirt to put on the next morning...
As you know, the downside of cotton in the backcountry is the fact that it doesn't dry. Wool is great in that it keeps you warm even while it's wet, but it also doesn't dry very fast. I really like wearing synthetics in the back country as they dry incredibly fast. A good synthetic base layer can literally be washed out in a creek, then wrung out and hung to dry and be dry in 30-40 minutes.
When you hike hard and sweat, the last thing you need is a wet shirt to put on the next morning...
As buglelk said, I only wear synthetics in the backcountry these days. Actually most of the time,unless I'm by my home or truck camp.Then I'll wear wool with a change to let one dry out. Wool dries out fairly fast in NM. I never wear cotton hunting any more. I would like some Merino wool base layers to try. But love the synthetics. Some dry out with just body heat.
